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7 8 9 10 11 12 13 H 15 
DAYS. 



EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCHES 



ON 



THE FOOD OF ANIMALS, 



FATTENING OF CATTLE. 



WITH REMARKS ON 



THE FOOD OF MAN 



BASED UPON EXPERIMENTS UNDERTAKEN BY ORDER 0/ 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 



ROBERT DUNDAS THOMSON, M. D. 

LECTURER ON PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW. 



FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. 



NEW YORK: 
A. 0. MOOKE, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER, 

(LATE C. M. SAXTON & CO.) 
No. 140 FULTON STREET. 

1858. 



**> 



&>' 



TO 

DR. THOMAS THOMSON 

AND 

BARON IIEBI6, 

TO WHOM THE AUTHOR OWES HIS ACQUAINTANCE 
WITH THE SCIENCE OF CHEMISTRY, 



9TI)i0 (Contribution 



TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SUBJECT OF TH« 

GROWTH OF ANIMALS 

IS 

AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 



PREFACE. 



The present Work is based on an extensive series of 
experiments which were made at the instance of the Gov- 
ernment. The original object of that inquiry was to de- 
termine the relative influence of barley and malt in feed- 
ing cattle ; but as the opportunity seemed a favorable one 
for investigating some scientific problems of great impor- 
tance to physiology, and of extreme value in the physical 
management of man and animals, advantage was taken 
of it, by permission, to extend the experiments so as to in- 
clude these objects. 

It is well known to those who have been in the habit of 
late years of following the researches which have been 
undertaken to elucidate the nature of the growth of ani- 
mals, that it is now generally agreed that the muscular 
part of animals is derived from the fibrinous or nitroge- 
nous ingredients of the food, while the source of animal 
fat has been disputed. The present experiments seem to 
demonstrate that the fat of animals cannot be produced 
from the oil of the food, but must be evolved from the ca- 
lorifient, or heat-forming portion of the aliment, essential- 
ly assisted by its nitrogenous materials. By following out 
this principle, the author has been enabled to detect an 
important relation subsisting between the nutritive and ca- 
lorifient portion of the food, upon the determination of 
which, for the various conditions of animals, he considers 
the laws of animal dieting depend. He has endeavored 



8 PREFACE. 

to apply this law to various articles of human food ; and 
he trusts that the basis has been laid for future researches, 
which may be directed to administer to the health and com- 
fort of mankind, and of domesticated animals. In conduct- 
ing the experiments upon cattle, the author found not only 
his habitual acquaintance with animals, but also his med- 
ical knowledge in continual requisition in consequence of 
the tendency of the varied conditions of the animal sys- 
tem, from the sudden and frequent changes of diet, to 
induce symptoms of disease. These were carefully watch- 
ed, and overcome by such precautions as clearly follow 
from a due consideration of the principles announced in 
this work. It was on this account, and to enable the ag- 
riculturist to appreciate the advantage which he would 
derive from physiological and chemical knowledge, rather 
than to give anatomical instruction to the professional man, 
that the introductory chapters were written. In a work 
professing to be the result of entirely original experiments, 
and where such a mass of figures exist, errors must una- 
voidably have been overlooked, even although great care 
has been taken to diminish their number. The author, 
however, trusts that none will be detected which can ma- 
terially interfere with the principles deduced from the re. 
searches. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

Introduction. — Different Explanations of Digestion. — The Im- 
portance of Researches to discover its true Nature. — Sim- 
plicity of Living, and not the Savage Life, conducive to 
Health Page 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Hunger and Thirst are Laws of Nature. — Anecdote. — Mastica- 
tion or Chewing necessary as a Preparation for Digestion. 
— Importance of the fine Division of Food for the Production 
of Milk in Cows. — Experiment illustrative of this Position. — 
Alcohol not necessary in Human and Animal Diet. — Anec- 
dote of a Foreigner. — Definition of Digestion . . 17 

CHAPTER III. 

Human Organs of Digestion. — Description and Figure. — Di- 
gestion a Solution in the Stomach, but how produced is un- 
known. — Proofs of the Absence of Free Hydrochloric Acid 
in the Stomach. — Argument from the Composition of the 
Food. — Intoxication produced by Oysters. — Anecdotes. — Di- 
gestive Organs in Animals chewing the Cud — Description 
and Figure. — Detection of the Food in the Blood. — Enor- 
mous Draughts of Water taken by Cows. — Explanation of 
the Action- of Purgatives. — Conversion of Blood into Chyle. 
— Parallelism between Milk, Flour, and Blood . . 25 



10 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE COWS. 

Description of Brown and White Cow. — Influence of Symme- 
try upon the Amount of Milk. — The Health of an Animal de- 
pends on the proper Relation of its Organs. — Difference of 
Constitution of Animals depends on the Nervous System. — 
Fat Animals often to be considered as in a State of Dis- 
ease Page 45 

CHAPTER V. 

INFLUENCE OF GRASS WHEN USED AS DIET. 

Tables of Milk and Butter produced by Grass during Fourteen 
Days. — Composition of the Milk. — Amount of Food consum- 
ed. — Of the Source of the Butter in the Grass. — Amount of 
Wax in the Food. — Composition of Butter. — Mode of pre- 
serving Butter fresh for any length of Time. — Improbability 
of Wax being converted into- Butter. — On the Nature of 
Grass and Hay as Food. — Analysis of Hay. — Grass loses 
Nutritive Matter when converted into Hay in this Country. — 
Table of Fall of Rain. — Process of Artificial Haymaking 
suggested. — Analysis of Stem and Seeds of Rye Grass. — 
Importance of making Hay before Grass begins to seed 54 

CHAPTER VI. 

ON BARLEY AND MALT DIET. 

Barley and Malt, when not crushed, although steeped in Hot 
Water, are imperfectly digested by Cows. — Too large a 
Quantity of Grain diminishes the Amount of Milk. — Barley 
produces a greater Quantity of Milk and Butter than Malt. — 
Difference in the ultimate Composition of Barley and Malt. — 
Difference in the Amount of Nitrogen in Barley and Malt. — 
Difference in the Saline Constituents of Barley and Malt. — 
Effect of the Process of Malting . , . .7° 



CONTENTS. 11 



CHAPTER VII. 

EFFECT OF MOLASSES, LINSEED, AND BEANS, IN THE PRODUCTION 
OF MILK AND BUTTER. 

Molasses gives less Milk and Butter than a Diet containing more 
Nitrogen. — Linseed gave less Butter than Bean Meal, al- 
though containing more Oil, probably in consequence of the 
Constituents of Beans being in the natural Proportion to re- 
store the Waste of the Animal System . . Page 114 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Quantity of Milk produced by different Kinds of Food. — Effect 
of Grass in producing Milk.— Influence of Variety of Food 
on Milk and on Man. — Economical Dishes for the Poor. — 
Effect of Barley and Malt on Milk.— Effect of Molasses, 
Linseed, and Beans on the Production of Milk.— Influence of 
Quantity of Grain in the Production of Milk.— Rate at which 
Food is changed into Milk.— Relative Influence of different 
kinds of Food in the Production of Butter . . 125 



CHAPTER IX. 

Muscle of the Body supplied by the Fibrin of the Food. — Fi- 
brin supplies heat to the Body. — Additional or Calorifient 
Food also required.*-Amount of Nutritive and Calorifient 
Food consumed by a Cow per Day. — The true Laws of Di- 
eting, — Amount of Nutritive Matter in various Kinds of 
Vegetable Food. — Arrow-root improper for Infant Food, 
but useful in Diseases. — The largest Quantity of Milk pro- 
duced by Food containing the greatest Amount of Nitrogen. 
— Grass an Exception to this Rule. — Explanation of this 
Fact.— New Forms of Bread.— Oatmeal Bread.— Barley 
Bread.— Indian Corn Bread.— Peas Bread.— Mode of baking. 
— Difference between Fermented and Unfermented Bread. — 
Unfermented Bread recommended .... 143 



12 CONTENTS. 



APPENDIX. 

Table I. Relations of the Food to the Products of 

Two Cows .... Page 166 

Table II. Amount of Oil and Wax in the Food, and of 

the Butter, in each Cow . . . 197 

Table III. Amount of Oil and Wax in the Food, and of 

the Butter, in both Cows . . . 169 

Table IV. Ratios of Food, Milk, and Butter . . 170 
Table V. Amount of Wax and Oil in different Kinds of 

Food, and in Dung .... 171 

T> ile VI. Comparison between the Wax of the Food 

and the Butter, and the Wax in Dung . . 172 



RESEARCHES 



ON 



THE FOOD OF ANIMALS, 

&c. &c. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. DIFFERENT EXPLANATIONS OF DIGESTION. IMPORTANCE 

OF RESEARCHES TO DISCOVER ITS TRUE NATURE. SIMPLICITY OF LrV- 

ING, AND NOT THE SAVAGE LIFE, CONDUCrVE TO HEALTH. 

It is a remark no less old than true, That we are 
often less acquainted with the nature of facts of every- 
day occurrence, than with those of a .rarer description. 
This may proceed from one of two causes ; either from 
the phenomena constantly under our notice being neg- 
lected, in consequence of our familiarity with them, or 
from the complexity of their nature, and the intricate 
purposes which they ultimately subserve. Some phy- 
siologists, who have endeavored to explain the nature 
of the process of digestion, would ascribe our ignorance 
of that important function to the former of these causes ; 
since they refer the preparation of the food in the stomach 
for the purpose of nourishing the body to the presence 
in that organ of an acid, which, according to them, sim- 
ply dissolves the food, and enables it to enter as a con- 
stituent of the circulating fluids of the animal system. 
The acid which effects this important object is the hy- 

2 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

drochloric acid; which they consider to have been satis- 
factorily proved to be present during the period when 
food exists in the stomach, and they conceive that they 
can imitate the process of animal digestion in glass, or 
other vessels out of the body, simply by exposing ani- 
mal and vegetable food to the influence of dilute acids. 
Another class of individuals, who have studied the in- 
teresting changes which the food undergoes in the 
stomach and intestines, conceive that we are still unac- 
quainted with the true nature of this process, and are 
inclined to the opinion that the reason why we are not 
sufficiently conversant with the phenomena of digestion, 
depends more on their intricacy and obscurity than upon 
a deficiency of research and observation ; and that while 
we possess some facts which seem to indicate the di- 
rection in which we are to search for a solution of the 
difficulties of the subject, we are still at a great distance 
from the elucidation of the precise manner in which 
animals digest their food. 

There cannot be a doubt that if we understood the 
nature of the process by which the food which we 
swallow is converted into living flesh, important results 
would follow in reference to the preservation of the 
health of animals, and the treatment of diseases. If we 
were properly acquainted with every transformation 
through which the constituents of the food pass after it 
has been masticated, until it is finally removed from the 
system, it is clear that, in cases where the stomach is 
unable to perform its accustomed functions, the assist- 
ance of art might be called in to minister to digestion. 
Even in the present state of our knowledge, civilized 
nations cook their food, or, in other words, endeavor to 
imitate the primary stage of digestion, while the savage 



DIGESTION. 15 

in his wild, untutored state, being in a condition akin 
to that of the beasts of the forest, scarcely stands in 
need of the assistance of art, and devours his prey with 
less of enjoyment than of necessity. 

It las been a favorite speculation with some philoso- 
phers, that as beasts thrive best in the forest, so man is 
most healthy in the savage state ; that when accustomed 
to brave the severity of the winter's cold and summer's 
heat, to contend with the snow and the thunder storm 
without the protection of clothing, or pampering food, 
he is armed, like the Spartan of old, with a shield 
against the disease and early death so prevalent among 
the members of refined societies ; that the catalogue of 
maladies existing among a primitive people is exceed- 
ingly limited, and that it augments in volume precisely 
in proportion to the encroachments of civilization, and 
to the departure from those simple laws by which na- 
ture, in her unsophisticated state, is uniformly guided. 
So far has this view been carried by some advocates, 
that it was the opinion of Plato, that after certain medi- 
cines were introduced by Podalirius and Machaon at 
the siege of Troy, different diseases, which these medi- 
cines produced, became prevalent. It can scarcely be 
denied, that while these opinions are founded in truth, 
they have been greatly exaggerated, and made to tell in 
the wrong direction. It is quite true that simplicity in 
diet is better fitted to perpetuate health than stimulating 
and unnatural food ; but it is not necessary that, in or- 
der to acquire health, man should return to the actual 
condition of the savage ; nor is it incumbent that, al- 
though our domestic animals are seen to thrive well in 
their primitive forests, they should be cast loose under 
literally the same circumstances. In other words, it 



16 DIGESTION. 

does not follow, because savage man and animals are 
healthy, that civilized man and his attendant animals 
should be diseased. A little reflection will show, that 
a greater amount of knowledge is required to manage 
animals which are subjected to artificial restraints than 
in their original condition ; for while man in a social 
state undergoes more mental and physical fatigue than 
in a state of mere nature, so his attendant animals being 
placed under certain restrictions, foreign as it were to 
their primitive condition, it is necessary for those who 
direct their attention to the management of the physical 
nature of both man and animals, to possess such an ac- 
quaintance with their construction and requirements, as 
to be able to lay down regulations for retaining them in 
a healthy and natural condition of body, and to prevent 
cattle, more especially, from acquiring that unwhole- 
some fat condition which, from want of due attention 
to the nature of the animal's system, has assumed al- 
most the aspect of a permanent fallacy. 

To render the doctrines to be laid down in the sub- 
sequent part of this work more intelligible, it will be 
proper to describe briefly the organs of digestion in 
man and cattle, and to notice the opinions entertained 
respecting the nature of digestion. In accomplishing 
this, it will be necessary to distinguish between what is 
known and what is assumed. 



HUNGER AND THIRST. 17 



CHAPTER II 

HUNGER AND THIRST ARE LAWS OF NATURE. ANECDOTE. MASTICATION 

OR CHEWING NECE6SARY AS A PREPARATION FOR DIGESTION. IMPOR- 
TANCE OF THE FINE DIVISION OF FOOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MILK 

IN COWS. EXPERIMENT ILLUSTRATIVE OF THIS POSITION. ALCOHOL 

NOT NECESSARY IN HUMAN AND ANIMAL DIET. ANECDOTE OF A FOR- 
EIGNER. DEFINITION OF DIGESTION. 

Hunger and thirst are the preliminary steps to di- 
gestion ; they constitute a law implanted in the animal 
economy for the purpose of inducing the living being 
to take such nourishment as is required to sustain that 
waste of the system which animated nature is contin- 
ually undergoing. If the dictates of the sensation of 
hunger and thirst are rationally obeyed, satisfaction and 
healthy digestion are the result ; but if, on the contrary, 
these important sensations are neglected, weakness and 
disease must necessarily ensue. Appetite, or, in its 
more advanced stage, hunger, teaches animals to seek 
for*solid food, and thirst suggests the propriety of ren- 
dering the solid mass more pulpy and dilute by the 
employment of drink. Experience and reason, both 
in man and brutes, must in some measure direct the 
selection of the proper objects to be employed for these 
purposes. I was some years ago consulted by a wor- 
thy individual with regard to the propriety of fasting as 
a religious observance. I told him that the sensation 
of hunger and thirst constituted a most important law 
in the animal economy, destined by the Creator for the 



18 MASTICATION, 

most beneficent purposes ; that it ought to be obeyed 
as a matter of duty, and that if infringed, some preju- 
dicial result would necessarily ensue ; because it is no 
argument in favor of any such experiment upon human 
life that existence does not terminate upon its adoption, 
or that the symptoms of some frightful disease are not 
instantly ushered in. The seeds of future mischief 
may be sown by one experiment, and may only lie dor- 
mant until a second or succeeding infringement shall 
cause them to spring forth into living activity. In the 
course of the extensive series of experiments upon 
cows afterwards to be detailed, it was found that, when 
they were not supplied with sufficient food during one 
day the product of milk was a day or two in reaching 
its former average ; thus demonstrating that the animal 
had been weakened by the abstinence, inasmuch as it 
took a longer period to reach its ordinary condition than 
was required to reduce it. The milk, in such an ex- 
periment, corresponds with the muscle and fatty por- 
tions of the body of animals which do not supply milk ; 
hence abstinence in all animals must be followed by a 
diminution of the weight of the body. It has been 
well remarked by Liebig, that " in the process of star- 
vation it is not only the fat which disappears, but also 
by degrees all such of the solids as are capable of be- 
ing dissolved. In the wasted bodies of those who have 
suffered starvation, the muscles are shrunk, and un- 
naturally soft, and have lost their contractility : all these 
parts of the body which were capable of entering into 
the state of motion have served to protect the remain- 
der of the frame from the destructive influence ol the 
atmosphere." {Liebig, p. 26.) There is no difference 
in this respect between one set of animals and another. 



OK CHEWING. 19 

Civilized and savage men, wild and domestic animals, 
must all be classed under the same category. 

In the human species a morsel of food is grasped by 
the front teeth of both jaws, which are each supplied 
with sixteen teeth, making thirty-two in all. In those 
animals which chew the cud, as they have only one 
row of teeth the food is less firmly grasped by the jaws, 
and there is, therefore, a greater necessity that it should 
be of a soft and pliable nature. By the assistance of 
the lips, jaws, tongue, and auxiliary muscles, the food 
is conveyed into the cavity of the mouth, and by the 
aid of the tongue and lateral motion of the mouth it is 
placed between the opposing jaws, where it is masti- 
cated or ground to a proper consistence. But the ac- 
tion of the jaws in grinding the morsel introduced be- 
tween them at the same time elicits the compressing 
power of the muscles of the cheek upon the parotid 
gland, which is situated in man in front of the ear, and 
expels its secreted fluid, the saliva, into the mouth, to 
assist in comminuting the nutritive matter. Besides 
this mechanical action, there is, however, a nervous 
sympathy called into operation. The masticated mat- 
ter acts upon the tongue and adjacent parts, inducing a 
sympathy with the glands placed under the tongue, and 
causes them to pour out their copious contents. The 
object of mastication or chewing is, therefore, to re- 
duce the food to such a consistence as shall fit it for its 
reception and proper digestion in the stomach. This 
is well illustrated in -the instance of animals which are 
not supplied with teeth. 

The common fowl, for example, is destitute of these 
grinding apparatus ; but it has a muscular mechanism 
termed the gizzard, which powerfully compresses the 



20 IMPORTANCE OF 

introduced food, and by means of pebbles and stones, 
which are a necessary article of food with the class of 
animals referred to, an artificial substitute for the teeth 
is provided. In graminivorous animals, we shall pre- 
sently find that a substitute for the second row of teeth 
is provided in the operation of rumination, or chewing 
the cud. From attention to these facts, therefore, we 
are taught that the preparatory step of digestion con- 
sists in the fine division of solid food by means of the 
apparatus set apart in the mouth for this purpose, and 
its mixture with a certain amount of fluid saliva to ren- 
der it more dilute. 

The importance of the proper grinding of the food, 
and of rendering it as soluble as possible, can be well 
appreciated by such individuals as have been the sub- 
jects of indigestion, from the eructation of morsels of 
food, of gases, and of acid liquors. It is scarcely ne- 
cessary to remark, that similar rules are applicable to 
the inferior animals, and more particularly in the state 
of confinement to which most of them are more or less 
subjected when they are made to minister to the wants 
of the human species. The following comparative 
table exhibits this fact in a sufficiently striking manner. 
Two cows were fed on entire barley and malt, steeped 
in hot water ; they were then fed on crushed barley and 
malt, prepared in the same manner. The influence of 
the finer division of the grain in augmenting the product 
of milk places the importance of this position beyond 
all cavil : — 



FINELY-DIVIDED FOOD. 21 



BROWN COW. WHITE COW. 
Milk in Periods Milk in Periods 



of 5 Days. 


of u Days. 


5 imibs. 

( 9?i 


106 lbs. 


94 


\ 96 
I 95 


98 


104 


C HfitJ 


1091 


< 105 - 


109j 


( 110 


110 


( 97 


106^ 


■J 96 


1071 


f 98 


11H 



Entire barley and grass, - 
Entire malt and grass, 

Crushed barley, grass and hay, 
Crushed malt and hay, 



An inspection of this table shows, that with the entire 
barley the milk diminished during the second five days 
of the experiment, while with the crushed barley the 
milk had a tendency to increase during each succeeding 
period. In all such experiments there are continually 
occurring irregularities, of which we have no means of 
precisely appreciating the causes. These proceed often 
from atmospherical influences, as temperature, and fre- 
quently from the condition of the animal. We are, 
therefore, taking a legitimate view of an experiment, 
when we direct our views to the tendency to improve- 
ment or deterioration in the course of the trial, rather 
than to the actual numbers obtained. In the preceding 
table, the tendency to an increase of product is decidedly 
in favor of the finely divided grain. There are some 
anomalies, more particularly with reference to the brown 
cow, which was rather a fiery animal, and probably 
placed in peculiar physical conditions, as will subse- 
quently be explained. 

The nature of the saliva, which is a fluid of the sim- 
plest constitution, as it contains 99^ per cent, of water, 
directs our attention to the nature of the fluid to be used 



22 SALIVA, AND NOT ALCOHOL, 

in quenching thirst. It has become customary in towns 
to stimulate the systems of cattle, more especially of 
cows, after the fashion of human beings, by the use of 
alcoholic fluids, such as pot ale, under the idea of in- 
creasing the amount of milk. Now as the stimulating 
portion of this pot ale is alcohol, and contains no curd, 
or, if so, but an insignificant, portion, it is evident that 
no increase of the nutritive constituents of the milk is 
thereby obtained. It is an idea, too prevalent with 
nurses, that fermented liquors increase the quantity of 
milk ; but I am sure all intelligent physicians will agree 
with me that this view should not be encouraged, either 
as improving the quality of the milk, or as benefiting 
the infants supported on such food. Even for adults a 
similar advice may not be inappropriate. A foreigner, 
who had a high opinion of English philosophy, was in- 
vited to a party consisting of men of science. After a 
plenteous dinner the table was cleared, and the bottles 
were placed on the table. Having partaken of two or 
three glasses of wine, and being still pressed to drink, 
he seriously assured the company that his thirst w T as 
quenched. The philosophers, however, continued to 
urge him to follow their example, and drink, even al- 
though he were not thirsty ; upon which the foreigner 
rang the bell, and insisted on having another course 
brought up, declaring, that they ought to eat as much 
against reason, as he to drink. The only advantage 
gained can merely be by stimulating the system, or in 
supplying a bad form of heat-producing food in a liquid 
form. There is no evidence that alcohol can supply 
any of the constituents of the milk or body. If the 
milk augments under its action, a position requiring to 
be proved, it must be in regard to the aqueous ingre- 



THE TYPE OF HUMAN DRINK. 23 

dient, and riot by an increase of any of the solid consti- 
tuents ; a. consequence, therefore, which would be more 
satisfactorily acquired by the addition of water to the 
milk after it has been drawn from the animal. 

The saliva would appear to constitute the type of 
what the drink of man and animals should be. The 
artificial beverages so much employed by them in a 
state of confinement seem to be unnecessary, if not 
hurtful. By the use of fluids as nearly allied to the 
nature of saliva as possible, we shall, as far as we can 
judge, be following the simple rules of nature. The 
operation of mastication, or chewing, is a voluntary act ; 
but the next step, or that of deglutition, or swallowing, 
is of a different character. So soon as the food is suf- 
ficiently reduced to a pulpy state, the natural impulse 
appears to be to carry it, by the assistance of the 
tongue, to the back part of the mouth. This is all the 
voluntary exertion required on the part of the individual. 
The instant that it touches certain nerves which guard 
the throat, they are excited, and cause the muscles to 
grasp the morsel and carry it into the gullet, by which 
it is conveyed, without any peculiar sensation in the 
healthy condition of animals, and without any exercise 
of voluntary motion, into the stomach, the primary or- 
gan of digestion. 

Much ambiguity has occurred in physiological wri- 
tings respecting the nature of digestion, perhaps as much 
from the absence of a proper definition of the term as 
from any other cause. Some writers appear to consider 
the disappearance of the masticated food from the stom- 
ach as a proof of the completion of the process of diges- 
tion-, while others view digestion as the formation of a 
pulpy mass in that organ. Physiologists generally de- 



9A. DEFINITION OF THE TERM DIGESTION. 

scribe the pulpy mass in the stomach under the name of 
chyme, and that in the smaller intestines as chyle ; but 
as these terms are in some measure artificial, and 
scarcely admissible in the case of graminivorous ani- 
mals, in the subsequent description of what is known 
respecting the changes which the food undergoes in the 
intestines, these terms will be omitted. By digestion I 
understand the conversion of food into blood. A con- 
sideration of this subject will lead us to notice the prin- 
cipal organs of digestion in man and animals, as well 
as the primary steps of digestion in the stomach and 
intestines, with the secondary stage of digestion in the 
passage of the food to the blood-vessels, and the alter- 
ation which it there undergoes. 



HUMAN ORGANS OF DIGESTION. 25 



CHAPTER III. 

HUMAN ORGANS OF DIGESTION. DESCRIPTION AND FIGURE. DIGESTION 

A SOLUTION IN THE STOMACH, BUT HOW PRODUCED IS UNKNOWN. 

PROOFS OF THE ABSENCE OF FREE HYDROCHLORIC ACID IN THE STOMACH. 

ARGUMENT FROM THE COMPOSITION OF THE FOOD. INTOXICATION 

PRODUCED BY OYSTERS. ANECDOTES. DIGESTIVE ORGANS IN ANIMALS 

CHEWING THE CUD. DESCRIPTION AND FIGURE. DETECTION OF THE 

FOOD IN THE BLOOD. ENORMOUS DRAUGHTS OF WATER TAKEN BY 

COWS. EXPLANATION OF THE ACTION OF PURGATIVES. CONVERSION 

OF BLOOD INTO CHYLE. PARALLELISM BETWEEN fl^ILK, FLOUR, AND 

BLOOD. 

Human Organs of Digestion. — The organs of pri- 
mary digestion in man are all situated in the lower 
division of the trunk of the body, usually termed the 
abdomen or belly, (Fig. 1.) They consist of the 
stomach, which may be viewed as an expansion of the 
gullet, or meat-pipe. Its form has been compared to 
that of a bagpipe. It lies principally on the left side, 
under the edge of the ribs ; but it extends towards the 
middle of the body, and more particularly after a meal 
its expansion can be detected. The upper border of 
the stomach is curved ; the hollow of the curve extend- 
ing downwards, and forming what is designated the 
small curvature or arch of the stomach. The lower 
border of this organ also constitutes an arch, termed the 
greater curvature. The passage into the stomach from 
the gullet, and the exit-valve or intestinal or lower ex- 
tremity of the stomach are thus nearly on a level, so 
that th/s organ may be said to be directed across the 

3 



at5 



LARGE AND 



body. The lower opening of the stomach (pyloric ori- 
fice) is contracted, being supplied with a circular band 



Fig.l. 




HUMAN STOMACH AND INTESTINES, (Grant.) 

1. (Esophagus, or meat-pipe. 
2.' Stomach. 

3. Small intestines. 

4. Termination of the small intestines in the colon. 

5. Great arch of the colon. 

6. Straight gut, or rectum. 



of muscular fibres, which constitutes a kind of valve in 
order to prevent food from returning into this organ. 
This point forms also the connection with the intestines, 
from whence they extend in the form of a long tube, 
five or six times the length of the body, and occupy the 
lower part of the abdomen. The intestines are usually 
divided into the small and large intestines. The former 
* are estimated to be in length twenty-six feet, or from 



SMALL INTESTINES. 27 

four to five times the length of the body ; and the great 
intestines one length of the body, or about six feet. ' — 
{Bell.) But it is rather remarkable that we have no 
precise statistical data in reference to the proportion 
between the height of the body and the length of the 
intestinal canal. In the figure the small intestines oc- 
cupy the middle space, and are surrounded on three 
sides by the large intestines. The colon, which com- 
mences on the right side of the body, passes upwards 
and across to the left side, in the form of a great arch ; 
then downwards, until it terminates in the rectum, or 
straight gut. The upper portion of the small intestines 
is termed duodenum, from its being twelve finger- 
breadths in length. It crosses over to the right side of 
the spine, and descends to the kidney, from which it 
crosses over to the left side of the spine. This is the 
largest of the small intestines, and it generally contains 
digested matter. The next portion of the small viscera, 
or two-fifths of what remains, is termed the jejunum, 
or empty intestine, because it is generally void of con- 
tents. The lower portion of the small intestines is 
termed ilium, and resembles the empty intestine. Both 
of these are convoluted in a remarkable manner in the 
cavity of the belly, and terminate in the large intestines 
by a valve, which prevents the return of their contents. 
The large intestines, including the colon and rectum, 
or straight gut, constitute the lower termination of the 
abdominal viscera, and are destined to serve as a store- 
house for all that portion of the food which is of no use 
to the system, and which is usually known under the 
names of dung and excrement. The masticated food 
then is received by the gullet into the stomach, and is 
further reduced to a finer state of division. The mode 



28 SOLUTION OF THE FOOD 

in which this division or solution of food is executed 
has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained. An acid 
certainly makes its appearance in the stomach when 
food is present, but whether this acid takes any part in 
the digestion or solution is still disputed. During the 
digestion of vegetable food in pigs, whose stomachs 
bear a close resemblance to those of man, I have al- 
ways found a volatile acid present in minute quantities, 
which corresponded with the properties of acetic acid ; 
but it is the only acid which distils over from the liquor 
of the stomach at a temperature of 212°. The filtered 
liquid of the stomach, under such circumstances, con- 
tains no hydrochloric acid, but an acid which is either 
lactic, or corresponds very closely with it.* To ascer- 
tain if free hydrochloric acid was present in the fluid 
contents of the stomach, after being distilled for some 
hours till no more acetic acid came over, the residue 
was filtered, and divided into three equal portions. 
1. To the first portion a solution of nitrate of silver was 
added, until a precipitate ceased to fall ; pure nitric 
acid was then added, and the temperature raised to the 
boiling point. The precipitate was filtered, washed, and 
weighed. 2. The second portion was evaporated to 
dryness, and ignited : the residue was dissolved in 
water, and precipitated by nitrate of silver, nitric acid 
being added, and the solution boiled. 3. The third por- 
tion was exactly neutralized with caustic potash, evap- 
orated, and ignited : the residue was dissolved in water, 
and precipitated by nitrate of silver. The results of 
these experiments are indicated in the following table 
in grains : — 

* Phil. Mag., April, May, 1845. Lancet and Medical Gazette of 
name year. 



IN THE STOMACH, 



29 



Experi- 
ments. 


Weight of Chloride 
of silver. 


Weight of 
Chlorine. 


Weight of Hydro- 
chloric Acid. 


1 
2 
3 


7-81 
7-17 
7-97 


1-95 
T79 
1-99 


200 
1-84 
2-04 



The difference between the first and second experi- 
ments indicated the amount of chlorine in union with 
ammonia. In the third experiment the potash displaced 
the ammonia, and hence the amount of chlorine was 
the same in the first and third experiments. I there- 
fore infer that no free hydrochloric acid was present. 
Hence it appears probable thft this acid is produced at 
the expense of the sugar or starch of the food, and it 
appears doubtful if any considerable quantity of acid is 
secreted, as is generally imagined, from the coats of the 
stomach. Corvisart tells us, that in a case where there 
was an aperture in the stomach the contents of that or- 
gan during digestion were neutral ; and I have found 
the contents of the stomach of a sheep during digestion 
of grass, and several hours after the food had been in- 
troduced, without either an acid or alkaline reaction. 
A strong argument, however, against the hydrochloric 
acid theory of digestion is derived from the circum- 
stance of the food containing, in many instances, but 
an insignificant quantity of chlorides, a considerable 
portion of which is again thrown out with the dung. 
Hay made from rye grass, for example, contains often 
merely a trace of chlorine, while in barley, and other 
kinds of grain, it is often entirely absent. Now as it is 
obvious that the hydrochloric acid, if any were present 
in the stomach, must be originally derived from the 
food, the absence of such a constituent in many kinds 
of food renders its disengagement in a free state in the 

3 # 



30 DIFFICULTY OF EXPLAINING 

stomach so much the less probable. I regret, there- 
fore, to be obliged to infer that the commonly received 
view of digestion is scarcely admissible. It is perhaps 
safer to conclude, that there is a deficiency of know- 
ledge on this important subject ; and that not only do 
we require to possess a few facts additional before we 
can be said to understand the process, but we want an 
entirely new basis on which to found a theory of diges- 
tion. It seems highly probable, from my own observa- 
tions, that the starch of food is converted into sugar, and 
that this again passes into simpler forms, as alcohol, 
perhaps, acetic acid, or lactic acid, by a kind of substi- 
tution so well explained by the theory of Dumas, and 
finally into gaseous forms, as carbonic acid and vapor 
of water, or after some such fashion as suggested by 
Liebig. The difficulty lies in explaining how the al- 
bumen and fibrin become dissolved, and are thus pre- 
pared to be taken up in a liquid state by the lacteals. 
What has been described as fermenting or digesting 
principles, under the names of pepsin, gasterase, &c, 
are obviously albumen, &c. modified by the action of 
solvents, and have thrown no light hitherto on the na- 
ture of the solvent power. The most superficial ob- 
server must have noticed that digestion is something 
more than a mere chemical action. Does not the fam- 
ished man/eeZ refreshed after eating, and does not the 
pulse beat quicker when food has been swallowed ? 
There is, therefore, a nervous action induced, the na- 
ture of which it is only wise to admit we do not as yet 
understand. But so remarkable is the influence of 
even simple food on the nerves, when abstinence has 
been practised for some time, that it may be interesting 



THE SOLUTION OF THE FOOD. 31 

to quote the following case, in which intoxication was 
produced by the stimulus of oysters alone. 

In the well-known mutiny of the Bounty, Capt. Bligh 
was set adrift in boats with twenty-five men about the 
end of April, in the neighborhood of the Friendly Islands, 
and was left to make his way to the coast of New Hol- 
land in such a precarious conveyance. At the end of 
May they reached that coast after undergoing the great- 
est privations, the daily allowance for each man having 
been one twenty-fifth of a pound of bread, a quarter of 
a pint of water, and occasionally a teaspoonful or two of 
rum. Parties went on shore, and returned highly rejoiced 
at having found plenty of oysters and fresh water. Soon, 
however, " the symptoms of having eaten too much be- 
gan to frighten some of us ; but on questioning others 
who had taken a more moderate allowance their minds 
were a little quieted. The others, however, became 
equally alarmed in their turn, dreading that such symp- 
toms (which resembled intoxication) would come on, 
and that they were all poisoned, so that they regarded 
each other with the strongest marks of apprehension, 
uncertain what would be the issue of their impru- 
dence !'' Similar observations have been made under 
other circumstances. Dr. Beddoes states that persons 
who have been shut up in a coal-work from the falling 
in of the sides of a pit, and have had nothing to eat for 
four or five days, will be as much intoxicated by a ba- 
sin of broth, as an ordinary person by three or four 
quarts of strong beer. In descending the Gharra, a 
tributary of the Indus, Mr. Atkinson states (Account of 
Expedition into Affghanistan in 1839-40, p. 66) that 
on two occasions during the passage he witnessed the 
intoxicating effects of food. To induce the Punjaubees 



RUMINANT ORGANS 



to exert themselves a little more, he promised them a 
ram, which they consider a great delicacy, for a feast, 
their general fare consisting of rice and vegetables made 
palatable with spices. The ram was killed, and they 
dined most luxuriously, stuffing themselves as if they 
were never to eat again. After an hour or two, to his 
great surprise and amusement, the expression of their 
countenances, their jabbering and gesticulations, showed 
clearly that the feast had produced the same effect as 
any intoxicating spirit or drug. The second treat was 
attended with the same result. The introduction of 
food, therefore, into the stomach produces an influence 
or sympathy over the whole body which is worthy of 
notice", and shows us that we are too much disposed, 
perhaps, to localize the physiological actions of the 
systems of animals. 

Digestive organs in animals which chew the cud. — 
{Ruminant animals, fig. 2.) The small and large in- 
testines of these animals correspond, in general re- 
spects, with those of the human subject. The stomach 
is, however, entirely different. Instead of consisting 
of one cavity as in men, the stomach of the sheep and 
ox is divided into four compartments, which serve to 
reduce the food to a finer state, and render it more 
pulpy. 

The food in these animals is first received into the 
paunch, (ventriculus,) which occupies a large space in 
the belly on the left side. From this bag it passes into 
the second stomach or honeycomb, (reticulum or bon- 
net,) from the cell-looking aspect of its interior struc- 
ture. There the food is formed into a round ball, and 
is thrown by the oesophagus into the mouth, to be again 
chewed while the animal is at rest. This is termed 



OF DIGESTION. 



33 



chewing the cud, and is a proof that the food has un- 
dergone little change in the first stomach. In the fine 




Fig. 2. 



COMPOUND STOMACH OF RUMINANTS, (from CarUS and JoilCS.) 

1. (Esophagus. 

2. The paunch, or first stomach. 

3. The honeycomb, or second stomach. 

4. The manyplies, or third stomach. 

5. The caille or red, or fourth stomach. 

6. The commencement of the small intestines. 



state of division in which it now is, the food when 
swallowed, " in consequence of its stimulating quality 
being now altered, finds the two valvular folds at the 
lower end of the oesophagus closed and shortened by 
contraction, and is directed by the short canal they thus 
form into the third, and thence into the fourth cavity of 
the stomach," ( Grant, p. 411,*) which is the true digest- 

* Outlines of Comparative Anatomy, by R. E. Grant, M. D., &c 
Part IV. p. 410. 



34 CONVERSION OF FOOD INTO 

ing stomach, and is the one which is active when the 
young are suckling. The anatomy thus far at least of 
the ruminant animals is interesting to the cattle feeder, 
because it may explain the importance of mixing with 
grain a certain amount of chopped hay, in order that 
the whole may pass into the first stomach and have all 
the benefit of a second mastication ; whereas, if it is 
administered at once in a fine state of division similar 
to that produced by chewing the cud, it may pass into 
the third stomach at once. The number of digesting 
operations to which vegetable food is thus subjected 
exhibits in a strong point of view the difficulty encoun- 
tered by the systems of animals in extracting from this 
description of aliment the soluble ingredients fitted for 
their support. It is thus we find in man, that vegeta- 
ble is longer of digesting than animal food, and that 
the American Indians, who live entirely on animals 
during a great portion of the year, are under the ne- 
cessity of smoking largely the prepared bark of the 
willow to delay probably digestion, as the custom of 
smoking has been plausibly explained by Liebig. There 
is an interesting confirmation of the fact, if any were 
needed, of the easier digestibility of animal than of 
vegetable food, related in the case of Mr. Spalding, 
the improver of the diving-bell in the last century. 
He stated that when he had eaten animal food, or drunk 
fermented liquors, he consumed the air in the bell 
much faster than when he lived upon vegetable food 
and drank only water. Many repeated trials had so 
convinced him of this, that he constantly abstained 
from animal diet while engaged in diving. But as di- 
gestion is not confined to the stomach in the view 
which we have taken of it, we find that in animals 



CHYLE OR WHITE BLOOD. 35 

living on vegetable food the intestines are generally 
much longer than in animals subsisting on animal food. 
In the sheep, for example, they are twenty-eight times 
the length of the body, while in animals which feed on 
a mixed diet, the intestinal canal, as in man, possesses a 
medium extent. The importance of the length of this 
tube is at once apparent for the digestion of a diet which 
is with difficulty soluble, if we consider that the intesti- 
nal canal is believed to form an extensive surface, from 
which the digested food is constantly passing away by 
the mouths of vessels opening into it, termed lacteals. 
These lacteals are considered to form a connection be- 
tween the intestines and the bloodvessels, by which the 
digested food, under the name of chyle, is transmitted into 
the current of the blood. The chyle, which may therefore 
be considered as incipient or young blood, contains simi- 
lar ingredients to those which we find in the stomach, 
viz. j fibrin, albumen, sugar, oil, red coloring matter, and 
salts. (Prout.) If we examine the blood when the chyle 
has been mixed with it, we might expect to find indi- 
cations of its presence in that fluid. Accordingly it 
has been ascertained that the serum or watery part of 
the blood, after partaking of a meal which contains any 
fatty matter, is milky, and is not clear as is generally 
supposed. This has been ascertained to be the case 
in healthy men, and also in the inferior animals. For 
example, calves were fed on gruel and milk, and after 
various intervals they were slaughtered. The serum 
of the blood on examination when the animal was killed 
from three to six hours after the meal was found to be 
milky, and to leave a greasy stain on filtering paper, 
when the amount of milk or fatty niatter used was 
considerable ; while the serum taken from an animal 



36 LARGE DRAUGHTS OF WATER 

which had been subjected to starvation for a space of 
time varying from twelve to twenty-four hours, present- 
ed generally a clear aspect.* Besides the fatty matter 
which had been used as food, traces of albuminous 
matter were detected in the serum of the blood when 
in the milky state ; and from some experiments also 
it would appear that sugar, either derived from the 
starch, or from the saccharine matter of the food, can 
be detected in the blood. These observations, for an 
opportunity of making which I am indebted to Dr. A. 
Buchanan, seem to be corroborated by the fact stated 
by microscopical observers, that particles distinct from 
those of the fat can be detected in the chyle. 

It has been a subject of discussion with physiolo- 
gists, whether the chyle or incipient blood is taken up 
in the small intestines alone, or if absorption occurs 
also in the course of the large intestines. Upon this 
question it appears that no small degree of light may 
be thrown by a consideration of some circumstances 
in the feeding of cattle, which are sufficiently striking. 
As cows are continually feeding during the whole day, 
it can rarely happen that the stomach can be in any 
other condition than in that of engorgement, and yet the 
amount of water which the animals will swallow at a 
single draught is certainly more than sufficient to fill the 
whole of the cavities of the stomach supposing them to 
be empty. The following table will show the quantity 
of water swallowed by two cows on different occasions. 
The animals were placed on the weighing-machine, and 
their weight noted. They were then allowed to satisfy 
their thirst, and their weight was again taken. 

* Paper by the author, Phil. Mag., April and May, 1845. 



TAKEN BY COWS. 



37 





BROWN COW. 








Food 


Weight of Cow. 


Water 
Swallow- 
ed. 


12 Aug. 

19 — 

29 — 
4 Sept. 


Barley, molasses, ) 
and hay, $ 

Malt and hay 

Ditto - * - 

Barley, linseed, ^ 
and hay, £ 


Before 
Drinking. 


After 
Drinking. 


lbs. 

1010 

998^ 
1023^ 

991 


lbs. 
1038 

1041 

1048^ 

1055 


lbs. 

28 

421 
25" 

63 



WHITE COW. 



Food. 


W T eight of Cow. 


Water 
Swallow- 
ed. 


12 Aug. 

26 — 
4 Sept. 

13 — 


Barley, molasses, ) 
and hay, S 

Malt and hay 

Barley, linseed, ) 
and hay, $ 

Beans and hay 


Before 
Drinking. 


After 
Drinking. 


lbs. 

1052 

1028 

1056 

1060 


lbs. 

1106 

1051 

1104 

1087 


lbs. 
54 
23 

48 

27 



In the fourth experiment with the brown cow, it will 
be observed that the animal swallowed at one draught 
sixty-three pounds weight of water. As the water was 
derived from the Clyde, and contained but a small 
amount of inorganic matter, we shall be very near the 
truth if we admit that the cow, on this occasion, swal- 
lowed six gallons of water without taking a breath. 
Now it is obvious that in these trials the water must 
have passed through the stomach into the intestines. 
On mentioning these facts to Sir Benjamin Brodie, to 
whose opinion in such experiments I most willingly de- 



38 USE OF THE COLON. 

fer, he informed me that he had found the water taker 
by small animals, when they were killed soon after 
swallowing it, to be lodged in the colon or large intes- 
tine. A similar observation has been made by Mr. 
Coleman, of the Veterinary College, in reference to the 
horse. — (Bell.) From which it has been inferred, that 
" the aliment is deposited liquid in the right colon ; that 
in arriving in the rectum or straight gut, it is deprived 
of fluid, and that the lymphatics of the great intestine 
are found distended with a limpid fluid. From such 
views the idea has been entertained that a very princi- 
pal office of the great intestines was to imbibe the fluid 
from their contents in proportion to the wants of the 
system." — (Bell.) It is not to be inferred, however, 
from the fact, that when the dung presents a less con- 
sistent aspect, it contains a much larger quantity of 
water. In the case of cows fed on grass, when the 
dung was thin and liquid, the percentage of solid matter 
was 11 '27; while when they were feeding to a con- 
siderable extent on grain, and when the dung was very 
consistent, the amount of solid matter varied from 13 
to 14£ per cent., affording evidence certainly of a greater 
quantity of water in the first instance than in the sec- 
ond, but not so considerable as might be expected from 
the external appearance of the substances. 

If the view of Bell be correct, and it seems a very 
plausible opinion, the colon would appear to act the 
same office as the paunch and second stomach of the 
camel, dromedary, and llama, in which animals there 
are Lirge cells in those portions of the stomach for the 
retention of water, which is thus supplied to the sys- 
tems of the animals according to the exigencies of their 
case. Since the experiments which I have detailed 



USE OF THE COLON. 39 

appear to warrant the conclusion, that the water swal- 
lowed by the cows was conveyed into the colon, it is 
obvious that this water, in its passage through the 
stomach, must carry with it much soluble matter, es- 
pecially of a saline nature, which may be absorbed 
through the coats of the great intestine, or thrown out 
with the excrementitious matter contained in the gut. 
It is in this way I am inclined to account for the con- 
siderable quantities of common salt and alkaline phos- 
phates which I have met with in repeated analyses of 
the dung of cows fed on grass, hay, and grain. The 
amount of inorganic matter in cow-dung varies from 
10 to 13 per 1000 parts; and in the latter case, the 
quantity of soluble salts, consisting of chlorides and 
phosphates, averaged as much as 1} per 1000 parts. 
The presence of these salts was quite unequivocal, as 
on burning the dung and digesting the residue in water 
the common salt was easily obtained in characteristic 
cubical crystals by concentration. The fact of the 
colon serving as a kind of reservoir for the large quan- 
tities of fluid carried into the intestinal canal, may 
serve also to explain the mode of action of saline pur- 
gatives. It would appear that, when dissolved in large 
quantities of water, they are carried at once to the co- 
lon, where they act by stimulating the intestine, in- 
creasing the peristaltic motion, and thus encouraging a 
more intimate mixture of the aqueous and solid con- 
tents of the gut, communicating the same liquid condi- 
tion of the contents of this intestine to those of the 
rectum, which are usually quite free from water, and 
thus contributing to their easy evacuation. Liebig has 
endeavored to account for the action of saline purga- 
tives by the power which they possess of extracting 



40 ACTION OF 

water from the tissues, in the same way that common 
salt extracts water from meat and forms brine. To a 
certain extent this explanation is satisfactory ; but it is 
obvious it cannot extend to the action of powders, such 
as jalap, &c, and accordingly Liebig restricts his view 
to saline purgatives. But if, as Sir Charles Bell be- 
lieves, there is always a quantity of water in the colon, 
we can more readily understand how such vegetable 
powders can act, and that their agency would be as- 
sisted by the use of diluents which will be carried 
down to the rectum and be intermixed with its con- 
tents. The erect posture, if this view is correct, will 
be the most proper to assume after the administration 
of medicine, in order that the abundant draught of fluid 
may be carried rapidly by gravity to the lower extrem- 
ity of the intestinal canal. This explanation of the 
action of purgatives, it will be observed, assimilates 
them to clysters, with this difference, that a purgative 
may act more or less from the stomach downwards, 
while the influence of a clyster is generally restricted 
to the rectum and colon. From this view we may also 
infer, that, in cases where the bowels obstinately resist 
the action of purgatives, and it is considered advisable 
to administer a clyster, the action of the latter will be 
facilitated by the free use of tepid water introduced by 
the mouth. It may be further inferred from this view, 
that a preference should be given to saline purgatives 
over those of a vegetable nature, since, being soluble, 
they are at once carried to the large intestines, their 
proper sphere of action ; and, contrary to the frequent 
assertion, they are just as natural to the system as 
those of a vegetable nature, since all wholesome food 
contains saline ingredients. This view is, in some 



PURGATIVE MEDICINES. 41 

measure, opposed to the employment of medicines in 
the state of pills, and would appear to dictate the pro- 
priety of administering aperients in the form of solu- 
tion whenever it can be practised with propriety. This 
observation it is not intended, however, should be con- 
strued into a recommendation of the use of purgatives ; 
on the contrary, we believe them to be much too fre- 
quently employed, and that a more intimate study of the 
process of digestion will convince both medical men and 
patients, that the primary object of attention is the na- 
ture of the food employed, and the due consideration 
of its adaptation to the particular circumstances in 
which an individual is placed. The nature of the ac- 
tion of purgatives now supported may be stated in a 
few words. The colon in a natural state contains wa- 
ter ; the rectum contains only dry faeces : a purgative 
increases the action of the colon, intermixes the water 
and contents more intimately, propels these liquid mat- 
ters into the rectum, occasions also a similar action to 
that induced in the colon, and finally, enables the 
whole contents to pass away with facility. This view 
is, in some measure, borne out by the fact of such suc- 
culent food as grass, which contains from j to f its 
weight of water, acting as an habitual aperient. 

Purgatives are usually employed to remove, as the 
phrase goes, irritating matter from the intestines. Now, 
as the only foreign substance of any consequence, in 
addition to the food, thrown into the intestines, is the 
bile, it becomes an important object to determine upon 
what the physician is acting when he administers a 
purgative. The question, Where are the irritating ma- 
terials lodged ? demands first a solution. If in the 
colon, then why should the whole length of the intes- 
4* 



42 IDENTITY OF MILK, 

tinal canal be subjected to the stimulating action of a 
purgative, since the end can be more easily attained by 
throwing a clyster into the large gut? The second 
question is, Does the bile cause the irritation ? And, 
third, Does not the food occasion the derangement? 
So little are we prepared to answer these questions, 
that we do not even as yet know the function or desti- 
nation of the bile. But there can be little he*; .tation 
in affirming, that the use of purgatives is carried much 
too far in this country, especially mercurials, a class 
of the most dangerous poisons. The primary object 
of the introduction of food into the stomach and intes- 
tinal canal is to produce blood : in order that the latter 
may be of a healthy description, it is requisite that the 
food should contain the ingredients necessary for the 
production of blood, and that these should be in a state 
of integrity and health. It is scarcely to be wondered 
at that the consumption of putrid food, such as high- 
flavored game, and large quantities of decayed cheese, 
should be incapable of producing healthy blood ; or 
rather, that the blood produced from substances in such 
a state of putrefaction should be liable to disease of 
the most dangerous and deadly nature. One of the 
first considerations, then, in forming an opinion of the 
adequacy of food to produce healthy blood, is to com- 
pare its constituents with those of the blood. The 
true type of all food, as has been well demonstrated 
by Dr. Prout, is the milk which nature has provided so 
carefully for the use of sucking animals : in it we may 
expect to find all the substances requisite for the pro- 
duction of healthy blood. The following table affords, 
in parallel columns, a view of the ingredients entering 
into the composition of milk, wheat flour, and blood. 



FLOUR, AND BLOOD. 



43 



Milk. 


Flour. 

"Fibrin. 


Curd or Casein. 4 


Albumen. 
Casein. 




Glutin. 


Butter. 
Sugar. 


Oil. 

Sugar, starch. 


Chloride of potassium. 
Chloride of sodium. 




Phosphate of soda. 
Phosphate of lime. 
Phosphate of magnesia. 
Phosphate of iron. 


► Ditto. 



Blood. 

["Fibrin. 
J Albumen. 
] Casein. 
(_ Coloring Matter. 

Fat. 

Sugar 1 ? 



^ Ditto. 



From this table, therefore, we learn that the curd of 
milk is capable of undergoing certain modifications, 
which exhibit themselves under four forms in the 
blood. The coloring matter, too, of the blood is ab- 
sent from the milk ; but the latter contains iron, which 
:b connected with the coloring matter of the blood in 
some way not yet understood : and it was the opinion 
of Chaptal, and of others since his time, that the florid 
color of the blood was occasioned by the action of the 
oxygen of the atmospheric air upon the iron of the 
blood. But the experiments of Dr. Prout, who found 
a trace of coloring matter in the chyle, that is, in blood 
before it has been exposed to the action of the oxygen 
of the atmosphere, would appear to militate against 
this plausible view of the cause of the florid color of 
the blood ; and yet it is impossible to avoid the suspi- 
cion that further inquiry, and a more intimate acquaint- 
ance with the process of respiration, will connect, in 
some manner or other, the iron which exists in no 
other part of animals but the blood with the function 
of the oxidation of the systems of animals. But be- 
sides the necessity for the presence of the same mate- 
rials in the food which exist in the blood, it is requisite 



44 MILK AND BLOOD. 

that each should bear a certain relation to the whole, 
as will be attempted to be pointed out in the subse- 
quent part of the work, during the discussion of the 
effects of the different kinds of diet employed in the 
extensive series of experiments to be detailed. The 
previous observations have shown the parallel nature 
of milk and blood. To make good milk, therefore, is 
obviously producing a similar effect to that of forming 
good blood, and consequently contributing to build up 
the body of animals in a healthy and substantial man- 
ner. Again, as the blood of cows is identical in com- 
position with that of the human species, it is obvious 
that the diet of the one class of animals must possess 
a similar composition to that of the other. It is im- 
portant, as a preliminary step, to consider briefly the 
nature of the animals upon which the experiments for 
determining the influence of different kinds of food its 
diet were made. 



DESCRIPTION OF COWS. 4-5 



CHAPTER IV. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE COWS. 

DESCRIPTION OF BROWN AND WHITE COW. INFLUENCE OF SYMMETRY 

UrON THE AMOUNT OF MILK.— THE HEALTH OF AN ANIMAL DEPEND8 
ON THE PROPER RELATION OF ITS ORGANS. DIFFERENCE OF CONSTI- 
TUTION OF ANIMALS DEPENDS ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. FAT ANI- 
MALS OFTEN TO BE CONSIDERED AS IN A STATE OF DISEASE. 

When experiments are made upon a limited scale it 
is essential that the principal elements in the investi- 
gation should be carefully selected. Greater accuracy 
would be undoubtedly attained by experimenting upon 
a very large number of animals at the same time, pro- 
vided that the execution could be effected with equal 
facility ; but when the subsequent tables are examined, 
it will be at once evident that the labor, and consequent 
liability to error, attendant upon such researches when 
made in a more extensive form, would more than coun- 
terbalance any objections to a more limited scale of 
inquiry. In undertaking this series of experiments it 
was requisite to choose cows which should produce 
average results. The selection was intrusted to a very 
extensive agriculturist, (possessing a large herd of milk 
cows,) who was made acquainted with the object in 
view ; and, from the results obtained, it appears that 
the choice was well made ; and that, so far as the ani- 
mals are concerned, there is probably nothing objec- 
tionable in the experiments. One of these animals 



4<5 DESCRIPTION OF COWS. 

was white or speckled, and the other was brown, and 
they answered to the following characters : — 

White or speckled Cow. — This was a handsome 
cow of the Ayrshire breed, possessing a face of no 
great length, but of considerable breadth. The horns 
were curved inwards and forwards, and their tips turned 
slightly upwards. The neck was covered with patches 
of a brown color, and the rest of the body thinly spot- 
ted in the same manner. The spine formed a remark- 
ably continuous horizontal line, unbroken by any de- 
pression. The chest was not characterized by a more 
than usual wedge-like form, although when viewed 
from behind, in connection with an expanded belly and 
short legs, this feature was to a certain extent observa- 
ble. She therefore possessed undoubtedly an impor- 
tant element in a good milk cow, viz., large intestines 
and comparatively small lungs. This cow was five or 
six weeks calved, and had seen the bull a fortnight 
previous to the commencement of the experiments. 
The quantity of milk which she gave when at pasture, 
it was stated, was ten quarts, or about 25 lbs. 12 oz. 
imperial weight. This amount was never, however, 
reached during the whole course of the experiments, 
except upon one occasion. This animal was remark- 
ably quiet ; her age was between five and six years, 
and her weight, a fortnight after her arrival, 994 lbs. 

Brown Cow. — This cow was considerably inferior 
in size to the preceding, and by no means endowed 
with a figure so pleasing to the eye of the connoisseur. 
Her horns protruded more. The spine was not straight, 
but was characterized by a decided dorsal depression, 
a mark of inferiority in an Ayrshire cow. Her color 
was brown, varied with a few white patches. Her 



INFLUENCE OF SHAPE IN A COW. 47 

belly did not protrude to such a degree as that of the 
white cow, and her lungs were in consequence larger 
in proportion. The quantity of milk which she gave 
at pasture is stated to have varied from nine to ten 
imperial quarts, a quantity which she much exceeded 
immediately after her arrival, but which gradually di- 
minished and remained tolerably stationary till the 
close of the investigation. This cow had seen the 
bull two days before her arrival, but probably without 
the requisite effect, as she displayed occasionally con- 
siderable irritability, wildness of eye, and other well- 
known symptoms. The quantity of milk which she 
gave was generally less than that yielded by the white 
cow, but the amount of butter was greater. Her 
weight, a fortnight after her arrival, was 967^ lbs., and 
her age was about five years. She had calved five or 
six weeks. 

It is not necessary, for the sake of elucidating the 
experiments, to discuss the much controverted points 
among agriculturists in reference to the form of cow 
best calculated for the purposes of the dairy, since 
practical judges differ as to the proper characters, and 
have too frequently fixed upon anatomical features as 
indicative of a good milk cow which are not necessa- 
rily so in a physiological point of view. No stronger 
proof could be adduced in support of this statement 
than the fact that the characters of a good milk cow 
of the short-horn breed are in many respects the re- 
verse of those exhibited by the Ayrshire cow. The 
external symmetry of an animal must, in some meas- 
ure, be viewed apart from its capacity to discharge a 
physiological function. It would be incorrect to judge 
of the capability of a man to undergo fatigue by the 



43 INFLUENCE OF THE RESPIRATORY 

contour of his countenance, spine, and limbs alone, al- 
though their peculiar conformation might afford acces- 
sory proofs of power. Recent experiments, in accord- 
ance with scientific views, would tend to show that 
strength or endurance of fatigue will depend more upon 
the relation of one important division of the system to 
another, as of the organs of respiration, for example, 
to the stature or muscular development, than upon the 
general corporeal symmetry. A man of six feet and 
upwards may appear well proportioned to the eye, and 
yet experiment has shown that an inferior stature af- 
fords, on an average, greater muscular power, in con- 
sequence of the better ratio subsisting between the 
important organs which are necessary to the exercise 
of strength. This is at once obvious, if we bear in 
mind that the principal source of animal power is res- 
piration, or that function by which certain portions of 
the digested food are converted into carbonic acid, 
acetic acid (?) and water ; including, therefore, not 
only the lungs, but also the whole capillary system of 
the skin.* A short-winded person, or one whose res- 
piratory organs are defective, is at once inferior in the 
capacity to undergo fatigue to another whose lungs are 
in a state of integrity ; and this is the result, not merely 
because the lungs are somewhat diseased, but because, 
the exciting cause of all animal motion being depen- 
dent on* the function of respiration, — that is, the con- 
version of carbon and hydrogen in the system into 

* These views are strongly supported by the very ingenious experi- 
ments of Mr. Hutchinson, whose researches on respiration constitute % 
valuable contribution to physiology. See Journal of Statistical So- 
ciety, June, 1844. Trans, of Med. Chirurg. Society of London, May, 
1846. 



AND NERVOUS SYSTEMS. 49 

carbonic acid and water, — it is requisite that the oxy- 
gen of the atmosphere should have access to a certain 
amount of blood-surface to produce a given effect. 
When any obstacle occurs to mar this operation, — for 
example, in consequence of disease of a portion of the 
lungs, or of the. influence of a cause operating upon 
the whole constitution, — the inevitable result is a de- 
terioration of muscular power. It is unnecessary to 
multiply examples in proof of the co-existence of mus- 
cular power and capacity of lung, since a broad chest 
is generally accepted as an element of strength. The 
relation between the muscles, or flesh, and the lungs 
being understood, it will be more easy to appreciate 
the connection between the intestines and the lungs. 
The intestines are the reservoir in which the food is 
placed for the purpose of being absorbed into the blood. 
The rapidity with which the dissolved or digested mat- 
ter is taken up must, it is obvious, depend upon the 
rate at which the vessels destined for this purpose act; 
these being set in motion by the heart, this again by 
the nervous system, and the latter by respiration, there 
is discernible a beautiful chain of connection between 
the oxygen of the atmosphere and the absorbed food. 
If the system described were always in equable move- 
ment, if no influences were occasionally present to in- 
terfere with its proper equilibrium, animals would be 
in the condition of plants, which possess absorbing ap- 
paratus, but are destitute of one powerful interfering 
agent in the animal economy ; this is the brain and 
nervous system, upon the condition of which depend 
passions and emotions of the mind. It is principally 
by the study of this important apparatus that we de- 
rive our knowledge of what is peculiarly termed the 

5 



50 NATURE OF FATNESS. 

constitution of animals. Without this system animals 
would be merely chemical machines, and we might 
then predicate, in every case, the effects of particular 
influences, as one animal would then differ from anoth- 
er merely in the extent of its mechanism. The intes- 
tinal canal may then be considered -as an extensive 
absorbing surface, which is retained in equilibrio by a 
properly-balanced exhaling surface, the lungs and skin. 
If there were no nerves, this equilibrium would spon- 
taneously proceed, and eveiy part of the animal sys- 
tem would be duly supplied with its proper amount of 
support. But to stimulate the nervous system we em- 
ploy exciting substances, such as alcohol and spices, 
&c, which increase the rapidity of absorption without 
a corresponding provision being made for the proper 
exhalation of the excess of food thus introduced into 
the system. The consequence must be the deposition 
of fat, a condition of the system which is ranked in 
the human subject as a disease, (Polysarcia adiposa.*) 
The same result occurs with the inferior animals if we 
force more food into their systems than can be in some 
degree proportionally exhaled. The deposition of fat 
ensues, and when it is carried to the extent too cus- 
tomary among agriculturists, it assumes the form of a 
disease : when cattle are fed for the purpose of serving 
as human food, there ought not to be such a super- 
abundance of fatty matter deposited as is usual with 
some of the animal monsters designated fat cattle. 
When they are properly fed, with a due attention to 
allowing them a certain amount of exercise, the fat and 

* In the language of Lord Byron, " fat is an oily dropsy." — Reject 
ed Addresses, p. 19. 



DESCRIPTION OF COWS. 51 

lean are deposited in healthy proportions, and the cattle 
may be employed without risk as human food. Pas- 
sions or mental influences must necessarily produce a 
decided effect upon the absorptive action of the intes- 
tinal canal, and may cause a diminished amount of nu- 
triment to be absorbed : in this case the products of 
the animal, such as the milk of the cow, must neces- 
sarily be diminished. This remark is to be kept in 
view in considering the subsequent experiments. The 
cows were very different in reference to their nervous 
condition. The white cow was quiet and steady, gen- 
erally eating equal portions and producing equable 
quantities of milk. The brown cow, on the contrary, 
was fitful in her appetite, and of consequence was va- 
riable in the amount of products. In proportion to her 
weight she consumed a larger amount of food than her 
fellow, but always afforded less milk and a greater 
amount of butter. The variable action of her organs 
is well exhibited in the first series of tables. When at 
pasture she had given two pints less than the white 
cow, and immediately before the experiments she gave 
the same quantity as her fellow. On her arrival in 
Glasgow her milk greatly increased ; but it soon be- 
gan to diminish, although the same amount of food 
was continued. That the change was not produced by 
any alteration in the food is obvious from the steadier 
result afforded by the white cow, which was also sup- 
plied with an equal weight of fodder. The amount of 
milk given by the brown cow was as much as 26 lbs 
per day when she was fed with grass, and upon the 
same kind of food the quantity declined to 22 lbs. ; 
while the milk produced by the white cow was, at 
the commencement of the experiment with grass, 23 



52 INFLUENCE OF 

lbs., and at the termination of the trial, 21 lbs. ; so 
that there was a falling off, in the case of the brown 
cow, to the extent of 4 lbs., and with the white cow 
only to the amount of 2 lbs. That this result was not 
merely owing to a deficiency of water was proved by 
experiment, which gave the same amount of water in 
the milk of both cows ; but the quantity of butter af- 
forded by the brown cow amounted to 11£ lbs., while 
that of the white cow was 8} lbs., in fourteen days, 
from 1,427 lbs. of grass supplied to each animal 
Again, when the animals were fed on steeped entire 
barley, the brown cow's milk fell from 22| lbs. to 17J 
lbs., while that of the white cow only declined from 
22 lbs. to 19| lbs. ; the brown cow falling off to the 
extent of 5 lbs., and the white only to the extent of 
2| lbs, These facts are sufficient to show that the 
two animals were constitutionally different. The oc- 
casional wild look of the brown cow, her tendency to 
gore those who approached her, her frequent startled 
aspect, all indicated a nervous state of excitement ; the 
probable cause of which has been already alluded to. 
The result of these experiments seems to countenance 
the idea, that, although a handsome external figure is 
not necessarily an indication of the highest capacity in 
a cow to produce milk and butter, yet that it may con- 
duce to afford a steady supply of milk, inasmuch as it 
appears to indicate a proper relation between the or- 
gans. 

Color of Cattle. — It has been supposed by some 
practical persons that the color of an animal exercised 
some influence on the amount of milk produced. The 
determination of this point could only be decided by 
experiments upon different breeds of cattle ; but it is 



COLOR OF CATTLE. 



probable that color is not an important element in this 
inquiry, any further than that the same parents being 
good milkers may originate a stock of similar charac- 
ter, both in color and in functions, to themselves ; and 
hence a particular color co-existing with good milking 
capacity would rather be an accidental than a physio- 
logical circumstance. The subject is one, however, 
open for inquiry, and is alluded to here because it is a 
favorite idea with some good practical observers. 

In the experiments to be detailed, it is proper to 
state that the milk was carefully weighed and also 
measured morning and evening; the numbers con- 
tained in the series of tables are therefore the exact 
results of experiments. The weight of grain may be 
taken as representing the exact chemical quantities, 
while the amount of hay being only given in quarter 
pounds might be received as the practical quantities, 
and not as the precise chemical numbers. The dung 
was also carefully weighed morning and evening, and 
its solid and liquid contents estimated by frequent des- 
iccations. The butter was extracted from the whole 
of the milk. The morning's milk was allowed to 
stand for twenty-four to thirty-six hours, and was then 
creamed ; the cream being placed in the churn, to- 
gether with the whole of the evening's milk. The 
weights and measures used are all Imperial. 
5* 



54 EFFECT OF GRASS AS FOOD 



CHAPTER V. 

INFLUENCE OF GRASS WHEN USED AS DIET. 

TABLES OF MILK AND BUTTER PRODUCED BY GRASS DURING FOURTEEN 

DA YS. COMPOSITION OF THE MILK. AMOUNT OF FOOD CONSUMED. — 

OF THE SOURCE OF THE BUTTER IN THE GRASS. AMOUNT OF WAX 

IN THE FOOD. COMPOSITION OF BUTTER. MODE OF PRESERVING BUT- 
TER FRESH FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME. IMPROBABILITY OF WAX BEING 

CONVERTED INTO BUTTER. ON THE NATURE OF GRASS AND HAY AS 

FOOD. ANALYSIS OF HAY. GRASS LOSES NUTRITIVE MATTER WHEN 

CONVERTED INTO HAY IN THIS COUNTRY. TABLE OF FALL OF RAIN. 

PROCESS OF ARTIFICIAL HAYMAKING SUGGESTED. ANALYSIS OF STEM 

AND SEEDS OF RYE-GRASS. IMPORTANCE OF MAKING HAY BEFORE GRASS 

BEGINS TO SEED. 

Immediately before the commencement of this ex- 
periment, the cattle had been grazing, and were brought 
a distance of about forty miles by railway ; a circum- 
stance which may account for several irregularities and 
anomalies in the immediate subsequent history of the 
animals as derivable from the tables : — 



EFFECT OF GRASS AS FOOD. 



55 



Experiment I. — Grass Diet. 


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H(MN^>acOMBO>0^«M'* 



56 



EFFECT OF GRASS AS FOOD. 



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q 

03 
03 
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3 


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994 
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EFFECT OF GRASS AS FOOD. 



57 



Proximate Analysis of the Experiment. — The com- 
position of the grass, consisting almost entirely of rye 
grass, (Lolium perenne,) and of the dung, was as fol- 
lows : — 





Grass. 


Dung. 


Water ... - 
Sol. Salts - - - ) 
Silica and Insol. Salts - \ 
Organic Matter 


75- 88-33 
..«, 5 0-40 
134 \\ 135 

23-66 9-92 


100- ! 100- 



Hence the solid matter in the food of the brown cow 
was 356 lbs., in the dung 147, while in the food of the 
white cow there were 356 lbs. of solid matter, and in 
the dung 140 lbs., making in all 425 lbs. swallowed by 
the two cows. 

The composition of the milk of the cows was as fol- 
lows : — 





Brown. 


White. 


Spec. Grav. 


1029-8 


1029-8 


Water - 


8719 


87-35 


Butter - 


370 




Sugar - 


435 




Casein - 


416 




Sol. Salts - 


015 


0156 


Insol. Salts - 


044 


0-488 



From the previous experiments it therefore appears, 
that the same quantity of food given to cows nearly of 
the same weight produced 5 lbs. less of solid matter 
of milk in one cow than in the other ; 100 lbs. of solid 
matter of grass producing in the brown cow 17| lbs 



58 ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIMENT 

of dry milk, and in the white cow only 15| lbs. From 
the column, however, in which the weight of the cattle 
is represented, it appears that both cows were increas- 
ing in weight ; but, as the white cow advanced most 
rapidly, it is probable that the difference in the quantity 
of solid milk may have been applied to increase the 
weight of the white cow. There is another alternative 
which is also admissible, viz., that the capacity of the 
lungs and respiratory organs of the white cow were 
greater than those of the brown cow, since the former 
absorbed a greater amount of solid matter from the 
grass, as appears from the difference between the grass 
and dung, than in the case of the brown cow. These 
important differences in the two animals rendered it 
impracticable to make comparative experiments upon 
them at the same time. The only method which could 
afford results of value was, to supply each with the 
same kind of food, and thus to obtain data which could 
enable a judgment to be formed of the relative nature 
of the constitutions of the animals. 

The whole series, therefore, consists of two parallel 
sets of experiments, the second of which may be viewed 
as a repetition of the first trials, thus serving to control 
any liability to error which might readily occur from 
the nature of the investigation. 

Ultimate Analysis of the Experiment. — The ulti- 
mate composition of the grass and dung was found to 
be as follows : — 



WITH GRASS. 



59 



Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen - 
Oxygen - 
Ash - - - 
Water 


Grass. 


Dung. 


Fresh. 


Dried at 212". 


Fresh. 


Dried at 212°. 


11*35 

1-48 
0-46 

10-39 
]-32 

7500 


4541 
593 
1-84 

4154 

5-28 


640 
0-78 
025 
520 
1-37 
8600 


45*74 
564 
1 81 

3703 
9-78 


100 


100 


100 


100 



Table exhibiting the Amount in Pounds of Carbon, fyc. 
in the Food and Dung during Fourteen Days. 





Brown. 


White. 


Grass. 


Dung. 


Consump- 
tion. 


Grass. 


Dung. 


Consump- 
tion. 


Carbon 
Hydrogen - 
Nitrogen - 
Oxygen 
Ash - - 
Water - - 


leif 

21 
61 

148~ 

18? 

1070? 


67 

8 

2A 
54^ 

u\ 

902^ 


94? 
13 

93| 

1671 


161? 
21 
61 

148" 

18? 

1070? 


64 

7? 

52 

860 


97? 
13* 

4 

96 

5 

210? 


I426| 


1049 


377 


1426? 1000 


426? 



From this table we learn that the brown cow con- 
sumed daily 6? lbs. of carbon ; this is very nearly equi- 
valent to 1 oz. of carbon for every 91 lbs. of live weight, 
(the cow weighing 8 cwt. 71 lbs.) The white cow 
consumed daily nearly 7 lbs. of carbon, or 1 oz. of car- 
bon to 8? lbs. of live weight ; and the daily consump- 
tion of all constituents is represented in the following 
table, which affords a view of the mean of the twc 
cows : — 



60 ULTIMATE NATURE OF FOOD. 

lbs. 

Carbon 6'87 

Hydrogen - - - 93 

Nitrogen - 0*28 

Oxygen 6'76 

Ash 0-33 

Water 1350 

28'67 



That so much matter should be ejected by animals 
is a circumstance liable to excite surprise in one who 
examines the physiology of digestion merely in a cur- 
sory manner ; but when we recollect that the stomachs 
of a ccw are of great capacity, capable of holding seve- 
ral gallons of water, and that these vessels, if we may 
so speak, require to be filled, in order that a mechanical 
excitement may be communicated to their surrounding 
coats, we may discover perhaps why a condensed regi- 
men, although it might contain sufficient nourishment 
to supply the waste of the body, from its insufficiency 
of bulk to excite the stomach to secrete the requisite 
gastric fluid, might be incompletely digested. Hence 
it may be that grain and all farinaceous food are insuffi- 
cient for cattle : they require a quantity of hay or straw 
in addition, for the purpose, in common language, of 
filling up the animal, but possibly to excite the coats 
of the stomach to the action of secretion. It is perhaps 
a prefe able view to consider the hay as containing a 
larger amount of calorifient constituents. 

Of the Constituent of the Grass which supplies the 
Butter. — It is now upwards of a century since Beccaria 
of Bologna broached the idea that animals are composed 
of the same substances which they employ as food : — 
" En efTet si Ton excepte la partie spirituelle et immor- 



THE SOURCE OF THE BUTTER. 61 

telle de notre etre, et si nous ne considerons que le 
corps, sommes nous composes d'autres substances que 
de celles qui nous servent de nourriture. (1742.)" — 
Collection Academique, tome x. p. 1 . In more recent 
times Dr. Prout has defended the same doctrine, and 
has referred us to milk as the type of nourishment. 
In this fluid the main solid constituents are oil, fibrin, 
and sugar ; these, therefore, or analogous bodies, he 
considers should enter into the composition of all whole- 
some nutriment. Still more lately a difference of opin- 
ion has resulted with reference to the exact part which 
starch or sugar plays in the animal economy. Fibrinous 
matters, it is generally admitted, undergo little or no 
alteration in the system ; but whether it is necessary, 
in order to produce fat in an animal, that the food should 
contain oil, and that no other form of nutriment can 
produce this substance, is a question which has been 
very much debated. It has been contended that the 
presence of oil, if not essential in the food, is at least 
very important in increasing the amount of fat deposit- 
ed ; while Liebig holds, that oil may possibly be assi- 
milated or converted into butter, but that the same pro- 
duct may result from the deoxidation of starch or sugar 
in the animal economy. To the agriculturist the settle- 
ment of this question is of no small importance, since it 
may guide him to the use of various kinds of food for 
the fattening of cattle which may otherwise be over- 
looked, and may also conduce to the proper prepara 
tion of food, a subject which has received less attention 
than perhaps it deserves. In the prosecution of the 
present series of experiments the prospect of throwing 
some light upon this interesting subject has been kept 
in view ; and, in general, such experiments as were 

6 



62 THE SOURCE OF THE 

required to afford data for calculating, from the different 
kinds of food, the probable origin of the oily matter 
secreted by the animals, have been carefully registered. 
To solve the question, it is necessary to ascertain the 
amount of oil in the food. The oily matter in the 
grass was determined by first drying the grass at the 
temperature of 212°, to remove water; it was then 
digested in successive portions of ether, until this liquid 
ceased to remove any matter in solution. The same 
experiment was performed with the dung. The first 
process, therefore, gave all the oily matter swallowed 
by the animal, and the second afforded the oil or wax 
which was not taken into the system : 2000 grains of 
grass, when dried, became 500 grains. By digestion 
in ether, 42'3 grains were taken up of a matter having 
a dry waxy consistence, possessing a green color, but 
without any of the characters of a fluid oil ; this is 
equal to 2'01 per cent. 4284 grains of moist dung 
from grass, equivalent to 500 grains of dry dung, af- 
forded 13* 2 grains of an exactly similar green waxy 
matter to that found in the grass, equal to 0'312 per 
cent. The largest amount of wax in the dung of the 
cattle was obtained while they were feeding on hay ; 
1000 grains of dung left, at the temperature of 212°, 
157 grains of dry dung, which gave 6 grains of wax, 
equivalent to 0'6 per cent, in moist dung, or 3*82 per 
cent, in the dry dung. All of these products were 
carefully dried for some days at the temperature of 
boiling water. From these data, then, we are enabled 
to construct the following table : — 



FAT OF ANIMALS. 63 

lbs. 

Amount of wax in food of both cows in fourteen days 57*3 
Amount of wax in dung - 63 

Amount of wax consumed by the cows - 51'0 

Amount of dry butter ------ 16*7 

Excess of wax in the food 34*3 

To ascertain whether the whole of the butter is re- 
moved from the milk by the usual process of churning, 
portions of the same milk were analyzed by the usual 
methods, for the sake of comparison. The brown 
cow's milk in the present experiment contained 3*46 
per cent, of butter, while, by analysis, the amount was 
37, making a difference of rather less than a quarter 
of a pound in 100 pounds of milk. This is so small 
that it does not affect the preceding calculation, but 
rather tends to show that the determination of such 
questions on a large scale is preferable to the usual 
analytic methods, since the analysis of milk twice a day 
for several months would be such a laborious work as 
to render its accomplishment impossible. 

It is necessary to explain the circumstance that but- 
ter, as obtained by the usual mechanical process, con- 
tains foreign matter, consisting of water and curd, or 
casein. By analysis, butter was found to have the fol 
lowing composition : — 

Casein ----- 094 

Oil 86-27 

Water 1279 

The composition of French butter has been stated to 
be somewhat different, (Boussingault,) as it has been 
found to contain upwards of eighteen per cent, of im- 



64 PRESERVATION OF BUTTER. 

purity. This difference may be owing to the coldness 
of the summer during which the present experiments 
were made. 

The hardness of the butter was a subject of general 
remark, and might render it better fitted for being freed 
from the casein than if it had possessed a more fluid 
form. 

Mode of preserving Butter fresh. — The cause of the 
tainting of fresh butter depends upon the presence of 
the small quantity of curd and water as exhibited by the 
preceding analysis. To render butter capable of being 
kept for any length of time in a fresh condition, that is, 
as a pure solid oil, all that is necessary is to boil it in 
a pan till the water is removed, which is marked by 
the cessation of violent ebullition. By allowing the 
liquid oil to stand for a little the curd subsides, and the 
oil may then be poured off, or it may be strained through 
calico or muslin, into a bottle, and corked up. When 
it is to be used it may be gently heated and poured out 
of the bottle, or cut out by means of a knife or cheese- 
gouge. This is the usual method of preserving butter 
in India, (ghee,) and also on the Continent ; and it is 
rather remarkable that it is not in general use in this 
country. Bottled butter will thus keep for any length 
of time, and is the best form of this substance to use 
for sauces. 

From the preceding table it appears, that the oil 
consumed by the cows greatly exceeded the butter, 
and the oil contained in the dung, even if the casein 
and the water were not subtracted from the butter ; the 
total quantity of butter being 19 lbs. 6 oz. The result 
of this experiment is in perfect accordance with the 
facts observed by Boussingault, who, in similar re- 



SOURCE OF ANIMAL FAT. 6~3 

searches upon cattle, found the oil in the food to ex- 
ceed that in the dung and milk. The matter extracted 
by ether from grass, however, can scarcely be termed 
an oil, since it possesses all the characters of a wax ; 
that is, a body which contains a smaller amount of oxy- 
gen than a fat oil, — certainly less than is contained in 
butter. It is therefore difficult to conceive a wax to 
obtain more oxygen in the system, and to be converted 
into an oil, where all the actions are calculated to re- 
move oxygen, and not to supply it : such an occurrence 
would be as probable as the addition of oxygen to wood 
by throwing it into a furnace. The production of but- 
ter from sugar by the action of casein or curd is, on 
the contrary, a process with which chemists are now 
familiar, and is therefore more readily admissible into 
physiological theories than the idea of the formation of 
butter from wax, since we are unacquainted with any 
analogous example. The connection between sugar, 
oil, and wax is exhibited by the following formula : — 

Differences. 

Carb. Hyd. Oxyg. 

4 4 40 

4 2 

In bees we have a well demonstrated example of the 
production of wax from sugar, while fat, or the inter- 
mediate stage, is probably first produced in the body 
of the bee, and is then, by the loss of a small portion 
of carbon and oxygen, converted into wax, or to the 
lowest state of oxidation existing in the animal system. 
The point therefore to which it is necessary to direct 
attention is, that we have instances in chemical phy- 
siology of substances being produced from the others 
preceding i/ in the table, but that we are unacquainted 







Carb. 


Hyd. 


Oxyg. 


Sugar - 


- 


- 48 


44 


44 


Fat - 


- 


- 44 


40 


4 


Wax - 


- 


- 40 


40 


2 



66 NATURE OF FIBRIN. 

with any phenomena of an inverse order ; nor would 
such an occurrence be explicable upon the principles 
on which the animal system is understood to proceed. 
Taking all these circumstances into consideration, it 
appears that there are fewer difficulties in the way of 
supposing that butter is formed from the starch and 
sugar, or albuminous matter, of the food, than from the 
waxy matter which is present in such considerable 
quantities. There is only one instance, with which 
physiologists are at present acquainted, that could be 
adduced as evidence in favor of any substance being 
rendered more complex in the animal system, viz., the 
production of fibrin or flesh from curd or casein. So 
far as chemical experiments carry us, we are not in a 
condition to affirm that no fibrin exists in milk, but it is 
admitted that none has as yet been detected. If these 
be correct, then it would appear to follow that the in- 
fant fed on milk must derive its flesh from the curd of 
that fluid, and that as curd contains no phosphorus, 
(while fibrin does,) the curd of the milk, in order to 
form muscular fibre, is united to phosphorus in the 
animal system, and is thus built up, instead of being, 
as is the rule with other substances, reduced to a 
smaller number of elements. 

The objection to this view of the subject is, that the 
experiments which have been made on fibrin do not 
prove that it contains phosphorus ; they only prove that 
phosphoric acid can be detected in it even when it is 
purified in the most careful manner suggested by chem- 
ical knowledge ; and it would therefore be somewhat 
premature to adopt any such analogy as that which we 
have been considering.* 

* When this passage was written, in November, 1845, I founded 



HAY AND GRASS AS FOOD. 



67 



On the Nature of Grass and Hay as Food. — Grass, 
as may be readily imagined, varies very considerably 
in its composition, according to its age, and also, as 
may be expected, according to its species. The ex- 
periments undertaken during the present investigation 
have sufficiently demonstrated the first of these posi- 
tions ; but the second is still open for inquiry, since 
chemists who have previously analyzed grass and hay 
have omitted to particularize the botanical names of the 
plants which they have examined. The grass used in 
the present experiments consisted almost entirely of 
rye grass, (Lolium perenne,) and the hay employed 
was also similarly constituted. 

It may be interesting, for the sake of comparison, to 
give a table of the analysis of such specimens of hay as 
have been analyzed hitherto : — 



iny reasoning in reference to the probability of phosphorus not being a 
constituent of animal substances partly on the circumstance that Fre- 
my, in his analysis of the acid of the nerves, (cerebric acid,) found 0*9 
per cent, of phosphorus ; while, in my examination of the same sub- 
stance, further purified, I found only 0-46 per cent. Since that period, 
however, Liebig has found that, when properly prepared, fibrin and 
albumen are destitute of phosphorus. In the May number of the Phil- 
osophical Magazine for 1846, I have described a modification of fibrin 
under the name of pegmin, well known as the buffy coat of inflamed 
blood. This substance contains sulphur, and cannot therefore be termed 
an oxide of protein. Under the name of pyropin I have also described 
a ruby-colored substance found in the position of the pulp of the ele- 
phant's tooth. The following is their composition: — 



Carbon - 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen - 

Oxygen - - ) 
Sulphur - - $ 


Pegmin. 


Pyropin. 


52-07 

7-00 

14-31 

26-62 


I. 
5333 
7-52 
14-50 ) 

24.65 ^ 


ii. 

53-50 

7-66 

38-84 



68 



COMPOSITION OF RYE-GRASS. 



I. Analysis of hay made at Giessen by Dr. Will : 

the species of grass is not mentioned. 
II. Hay grown in the neighborhood of Strasburg in 
France, analyzed by M. Boussingault : the name 
of the grass is omitted. 
III. Analysis of Lolium perenne, as previously given 
and used in the present experiments. 



Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen - 
Oxvgen - 
Ash 


I. 


II. 


III. 


45-87 
576 

i 4155 

6-82 


45-80 

500 

5 1-50 

I 38-70 

9-00 


45 41 

593 

1-84 

3921 

761 



Although the species of grasses constituting these 
specimens of hay were in all probability different, the 
correspondence in their composition is sufficiently stri- 
king. 

The amount of solid matter in this grass varied from 
eighteen to upwards of thirty per cent., according to 
the early or late period of its growth. The grass made 
use of in the first experiment contained from eighteen 
to twenty-five per cent. In our calculations the latter 
number has been adopted. 

When grass first springs above the surface of the 
earth the principal constituent of its early blades is 
water, the amount of solid matter being comparatively 
trifling ; as it rises higher into day the deposition of a 
more indurated form of carbon gradually becomes more 
considerable ; the sugar and soluble matter at first in- 
creasing, then gradually diminishing, to give way to 
the deposition of woody substance. 



COMPOSITION OF RYE-GRASS. 



69 



The following table affords a view of the composition 
of rye-grass before and after ripening : — 



Water 
Solid Matter 


18th June. 


23d June. 


13th July. 


7619 

2381 


8123 

18-77 


6900 
31-00 



These are important practical facts for the agri- 
culturist ; for if, as we have endeavored to show, the 
sugar be an important element of the food of ani- 
mals, then it should be an object with the farmer to 
cut grass for the purpose of haymaking at that period 
when the largest amount of matter soluble in water is 
contained in it. This is assuredly at an earlier pe- 
riod of its growth than when it has shot into seed, for 
it is then that woody matter predominates ; a substance 
totally insoluble in water, and therefore less calculated 
to serve as food to animals than substances capable of 
assuming a soluble condition. This is the first point 
for consideration in the production of hay, since it ought 
to be the object of the farmer to preserve the hay for 
winter use in the condition most resembling the grass 
in its highest state of perfection. The second consid- 
eration in haymaking is to dry the grass under such 
circumstances as to retain the soluble portion in per- 
fect integrity. To ascertain whether hay, by the pro- 
cess and exposure which it undergoes, loses any of its 
soluble constituents, the following experiments were 
made : — 

1st. — 3000 grains of rye-grass in seed on the 13th 
July, gave up to hot water a thick sirupy fluid, 
which, when dried till it ceased to lose weight 



70 DIFFERENCE OF GRASS AND HAY. 

at 212°, weighed 217*94 grains, equivalent to 
7*26 per cent. 

2d. — 2500 grains of rye-grass, digested in cold wa- 
ter, yielded 53'23 grains of extract, equal to 
2' 12 per cent. This rye-grass contained 31 
per cent, of solid matter, and 69 per cent, of 
water. 

3d. — New hay, made from rye-grass, and containing 
20 per cent, of water, for the sake of compari- 
son, was also subjected to similar trials. 

Grains. Grains. 

1st. 1369 gave to hot water 220*77 of extract, 16*12 per cent. 

1000 - - 159-34 - - 1593 

1000 - 140 - - 14 

2d. 2000 grains of new hay, in seed, digested in cold water, 

yielded 101-3 grains of extract == 506 per cent, of soluble 

matter. 

From these numbers we learn that 100 parts of hay 
are equivalent to 387| of grass. This amount of grass 
should contain of soluble matter in hot water 28*13 
parts, and in cold water 8*21 parts. But the equiva- 
lent quantity of hay, or 100 parts, only contains 16 
instead of 28 parts soluble in hot water, and 5*06 in- 
stead of 8^ parts soluble in cold water. A very large 
proportion of the soluble matter of the grass has ob- 
viously disappeared in the conversion of grass into 
hay. The result of the haymaking in this particular 
instance has, therefore, been to approximate the soft, 
juicy, and tender grass to woody matter, by washing 
out or decomposing its sugar and other soluble consti- 
tuents. These facts enable us to explain the reason 
why cattle consume a larger amount of hay than is 
equivalent to the relative quantity of grass. Thus ani- 



DECOMPOSITION OF HAY. 71 

mals which can subsist upon 100 lbs. of grass should 
be able to retain the same condition by the use of 25 
lbs. of hay, if the latter suffered no deterioration in 
drying. The present series of experiments, however, 
show that a cow, thriving on 100 to 120 lbs. of grass, 
required 25 lbs. of hay, and 9 lbs. of barley or malt, 
affording thus collateral evidence of the view which we 
have taken of the imperfection of the process of hay- 
making at present in use in this country. 

The great cause of the deterioration of hay is the 
water which may be present, either from the incom- 
plete removal of the natural amount of water in the 
grass by drying, or by the absorption of this fluid from 
the atmosphere. Water when existing in hay from 
either of these sources will induce fermentation, a pro- 
cess by which one of the most important constituents 
of the grass, — viz., sugar — will be destroyed. The 
action necessary for decomposing the sugar is induced 
by the presence of the albuminous matter of the grass ; 
the elements of the sugar are made to re-act on each 
other in the moist state in which they exist, in conse- 
quence of the presence of the water and oil, and are 
converted into alcohol and carbonic acid according to 
the following formula : — 



1 atom sugar 



2 atoms alcohol 

4 atoms carbonic acid 



Carb. 


Hyd. 


Oxyg. 


12 


12 


12 


8 


12 


4 


4 





8 



That alcohol is produced in a heated haystack in 
many cases may be detected by the similarity of the 
odor disengaged .to that perceptible in a brewery. We 
use this comparison because it has been more than 



72 LOSS SUSTAINED BY 

once suggested to us by agriculturists. The quantity 
of water or volatile matter capable of* being removed 
fiom hay at the temperature of boiling water varies 
considerably. The amount of variation during the 
present experiments was from 20 to 14 per cent. If 
the lower per-centage could be attained at once by 
simple drying in the sun, the process of haymaking 
would probably admit of little improvement ; but the 
best new-made hay that we have examined contained 
more than this amount of water, the numbers obtained 
verging towards 20 per cent. When it contains as 
much as this it is very liable to ferment, especially if it 
should happen to be moistened by any accidental ap- 
proach of water. The only method which we have 
found to succeed in preserving grass perfectly entire is 
by drying it by means of artificial heat. Rye grass 
contains, at an early period of its growth, as much as 
81 per cent, of water, the whole of which may be re- 
moved by subjecting the grass to a temperature con- 
siderably under that of boiling water ; but, even with 
a heat of 120°, the greater portion of the water is re- 
moved, and the grass still retains its green color, a cha- 
racter which appears to add greatly to the relish with 
which cattle consume this kind of provender. When 
this dried grass (as it may be truly termed by way of 
distinction from hay) is examined, it will be found to 
consist of a series of tubes, which, if placed in water, 
will be filled with the fluid, and assume in some meas- 
ure the aspect of its original condition. In this form 
cattle will eat it with relish, and prefer it to hay, which, 
in comparison, is blanched, dry, and sapless. The ad- 
vantages obtained by this method of making hay, or 
rather of preserving grass in a dry state, are sufficiently 



HAY IN DRYING. 73 

obvious. By this means all the constituents of the 
grass are retained in a state of integrity; the sugar, 
by the absence of water, is protected from undergoing 
decomposition, the coloring matter of the grass is com- 
paratively little affected, while the soluble salts are not 
exposed to the risk of being washed out by the rains, 
as in the common process of haymaking. The amount 
of soluble matter capable of being taken up by cold 
water is, according to the preceding trials, as much as 
5 per cent., or a third of the whole soluble matter in 
hay. We may therefore form some notion of the in- 
jury liable to be produced by every shower of rain 
which drenches the fields during hay harvest. It is 
not only, however, the loss which it sustains, in re- 
gard to the sugar and soluble salts, that renders hay so 
much less acceptable than grass to the appetite of cat- 
tle. The bleaching which it undergoes in the sun de- 
prives it of the only peculiarity which distinguishes 
the one form of fodder from the other ; grass deprived 
of its green coloring matter presents exactly the ap- 
pearance of straw, so that hay ought to be termed 
grass straw. It is obvious, from the experiments de- 
tailed, that the operation of haymaking, as conducted 
in this country, has a tendency to remove a great pro- 
portion of the wax in the grass. Thus it was found 
that rye-grass contained 2'01 per cent, of wax. Now 
as 387£ parts of rye-grass are equivalent to 100 parts 
of hay, and as 387| parts of grass contain 7' 78 parts 
of wax, it is obvious that 100 parts of hay should con- 
tain the same amount of wax ; but by experiment it 
was found that 200 grains of hay contained 4 grains 
of wax, which is equivalent to 2 per cent., almost ex- 
actly the amount contained in grass. Hence it appears 

7 



74 



AMOUNT OF RAIN FALL. 



that no less than 5*78 grains of wax have disappeared 
during the haymaking process. The whitening process 
which the grass undergoes in drying renders it appa- 
rent that the green coloring matter has undergone 
change ; but that it should have been actually removed 
to such an extent, or at least have become insoluble in 
ether, is a result which could scarcely have been an- 
ticipated without actual experiment. Some improve- 
ment in the preparation of hay is imperatively demand- 
ed in such localities as are affected with a more than 
usual fall of rain. The following table of the fall of 
rain will point out where such precautions are more 
particularly required : — 





Inches. 




Glasgow - 


213 




London - ' ' - 


24*0 




Edinburgh - 


245 




Berwickshire - 


325 


( Abbey St. Bathans, 
\ 400 feet above sea. 


Manchester - 


361 




Lancaster - 


397 




Paisley - 


471 


at the Reservoir. 


Strathaven - 


45-8 


700 feet above sea. 


Greenock - 


61-8 


< 800 feet above the 
I town. 



The Glasgow result is the mean of many years' ob- 
servation at the Macfarlane Observatory. The London 
is taken from the Royal Society Register, the mean of 
ten years. The Edinburgh number is from observa- 
tions at the observatory. The Berwickshire number 
is the mean of two years' register, by Mr. Wallace, 
kept at my request. The Manchester and Lancaster 
are from Dr. Dalton. The Paisley and Greenock re- 
sults are from the water-works register, the mean of 



ARTIFICIAL HAYMAKING. 75 

seven years. The Strathaven number is from registers 
kept at my request by Mr. Wiseman. 

Frequently the quantity of rain which falls in May 
and June, the haymaking season, is greater than in 
April and July. In those localities where the fall of 
rain is so considerable, the preparation of good sound 
hay by the usual process will be almost impracticable, 
and in such places too frequently hay in a state of de- 
composition is given to animals, at the risk of their 
being seriously injured, since all food whose particles 
are in a state of fermentation or putrefaction, which 
are analogous actions, must have a tendency to pro- 
duce similar decompositions in the fluids of the animal 
system. In the neighborhood of manufacturing towns 
there could be no difficulty in preparing abundance of 
hay by the process now recommended. The waste 
heat of the chimneys might be sent through apartments 
or sheds of almost temporary construction, guided by 
a proper draught, so as to carry off the vapor as soon 
as it is volatilized ; and the same arrangements might, 
with economy, be adopted in conjunction with brick 
and tile works. Haymaking would thus commence at 
a much earlier period of the season, the grass would 
be cut, carted to the drying-room, and in the course of 
a few hours be ready for stacking. When hay pre- 
pared in this manner is to be given to cattle and horses 
it may be steeped in a tank for twenty-four hours, or 
any adequate period, before being placed in the racks 
and boxes ; and the steep water, which will contain 
sugar and soluble salts, should be given them to 
drink. 

By this system of preserving grass we should be 
continuing to our cattle in winter our summer food. 



76 ARTIFICIAL GRASS AND CORN DRYING. 

which all admit to be superior to every other substi- 
tute ; and while the animals themselves would be ben- 
efited, much uneasiness and trouble in winter would be 
saved to the farmer. In a moist climate, especially 
like that exhibited in Scotland during the last year, it 
appears highly desirable that farmers should possess 
on their premises a drying-room, where hay, potatoes, 
and even corn, might be dried. Had such a conve- 
nience been attached to many of our farmers' offices 
last stason much corn might have been saved, even by 
drying one or two cart-loads daily. This desideratum 
might be effected by running a flue through the barn, 
level with the floor, its upper surface being covered 
with iron plate or tiles. By means of a small quantity 
of fuel a barn -full of corn in sheaves, properly dis- 
posed, might be dried in a few hours. The artificial 
method of drying grass here suggested will of course 
be unnecessary when the grass can be deprived of its 
water by the heat of the sun with sufficient rapidity, 
and without being exposed to the drenching influence 
of the rain of our northern climate. That rapid drying 
can be effected, even in wet seasons, in Scotland, I 
have had an opportunity of witnessing, in the case of 
an excellent sample of hay prepared during the sum- 
mer of 1845, on the grounds of Mr. Fleming, of Baro- 
chan, for a specimen of which I am indebted to that 
gentleman. The only complaint which I have heard 
offered to the English plan of haymaking is the addi- 
tional amount of labor required, but surely any rational 
excess of labor is preferable to the complete deteriora- 
tion of the hay crop. 

The constituents of the rye-grass, washed out by 
rain, would be principally the sugar and soluble salts. 



COMPOSITION OF RYE-GRASS. 



77 



The nature of the inorganic salts, both of the stem of 
the grass, when dried, as hay, and of the seeds, is as 
represented in the following tables. 

100 parts of the stem and seeds were composed as 
follows : — 



Water 

Organic Matter - 

Ash - 


Stem. 


Stem. 


Seed. 


1550 

79 52 

4-98 


19-30 

75-72 

4-98 


11-376 

82-548 
6-070 



Table of Saline Matter in Stem and Seeds of Loliwn 
perenne, (Rye-grass.) 



Silica - 

Phosphoric Acid 
Sulphuric Acid 
Chlorine 
Carbonic Acid 
Magnesia 
Lime - 

Peroxide of Iron 
Potash 
Soda - 



Stem. 



64-57 
1251 



401 
650 
0'36 
8-03 
217 



Seed. 



43-28 

16-89 
312 

trace 
361 
531 

1855 
2-10 
5-80 
1-38 



There is no doubt, from numerous other analyses 
which I have made, that these numbers undergo very 
considerable modifications on different soils. 

A comparison of the two columns of this table adds 
another argument to that already brought forward 
against the practice of allowing rye-grass to come to 
seed before cutting it for hay, since the seed tends to 
remove a larger portion of phosphoric acid from the 
soil than the stem ; the quantity of acid found in the 

7* 



78 COMPOSITION OF RYE-GRASS. 

seed exceeding that in the stem by one fourth. A sim- 
ilar observation, with greater force, applies to the lime, 
as the amount of this earth is two thirds greater in the 
seed than in the stem. The quantity of alkalies is 
twice as great in the stem as in the seed, while the 
total ash of the seed is a sixth part superior in amount 
to that of the stem. 



BARLEY AND MALT DIET. 79 



CHAPTER VI. 

ON BARLEY AND MALT DIET. 

BARLEY AND MALT, WHEN NOT CRUSHED, ALTHOUGH STEEPED IN HOT 
WATER, ARE IMPERFECTLY DIGESTED BY COWS. TOO LARGE A QUAN- 
TITY OF GRAIN DIMINISHES THE AMOUNT OF MILK. BARLEY PlODUCES 

A GREATER QUANTITY OF MILK AND BUTTER THAN MALT. DIFFERENCE 

IN THE ULTIMATE COMPOSITION OF BARLEY AND MALT. DIFFERENCE 

IN THE AMOUNT OF NITROGEN IN BARLEY AND MALT. DIFFERENCE IN 

THE SALINE CONSTITUENTS OF BARLEY AND MALT. EFFECT OF THE 

PROCESS OF MALTING. 

Although it might appear that the most correct 
method of determining experimentally the comparative 
nutritive effect of food would be to accustom an animal 
to a diet of one species of food, and then to substitute 
for a certain portion of it a definite quantity of that 
whose nutritive power was intended to be tried, and, 
lastly, to calculate the results, experience leads us to a 
different method of investigation. Physiology tends to 
show us, that an animal performing certain functions 
consumes an amount of oxygen daily, varying accord- 
ing to the state of the atmosphere and to other physical 
causes which are not always capable of appreciation. 
We adduce at once, then, from these circumstances, 
apart from experiments, that an animal consumes every 
day a different amount of fodder, and that, if it is not 
permitted to use as much food as shall repair the waste 
of its system, it must lose flesh and strength ; and 



80 INFLUENCE OF 

hence experiments made without a due attention to the 
physiological state of the animal must lead to conclu- 
sions which are not legitimate. The force of this ob- 
servation we have had sufficient opportunities of ob- 
serving, not only on the present but on other occasions, 
and it may be illustrated by the following example : — 
A cow, if fed for two days on an insufficient quantity 
of food, as indicated by loss of weight and diminution 
of milk, will require at least double that time to reach 
the condition from which it had deteriorated ; and the 
reason of this is obvious, because the partial starvation 
has caused it to lose a portion of the substance of its 
body, which requires a longer time to re-establish than 
to pull down. This rule is applicable to the dietary 
of men as well as the inferior animals. An increase 
of labor should always be accompanied with an in- 
crease of food, both at sea and in prison ; a short walk 
to one confined in a solitary cell calls for some aug- 
mentation of food. A slight increase of temperature, 
or the irritating influence of insects, will effectually 
diminish the milk of a cow, and indicates the propriety 
of increasing the amount of fodder. The first two of 
the following experiments demonstrates these positions 
in a striking manner. With the entire malt and barley 
the amount of grass was limited, but afterwards the hay 
was supplied ad libitum. 



ENTIRE BARLEY AS FOOD. 



81 



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ENTIRE BARLEY AS FOOD. 



83 



The result of this and the following experiment de- 
monstrates the importance of reducing the food to a 
fine state of division. 

Previous to this experiment, as will be observed by 
consulting the table of experiments on the effect of 
grass in feeding the cows, the animals were both gain- 
ing weight. By calculating the value of the barley as 
a nutritious body from the nitrogen contained in it, it 
was found that 2\ lbs. of barley contain as much albu- 
minous nutriment as 10 lbs. of grass. The result of 
the experiment, however, shows that although this fact 
may be correct, yet that the conditions of the trial were 
not such as to prevent the animals from falling off both 
in milk and in weight. The true reason of the failure 
seems to have been, that the digestion of the barley 
was in some degree prevented by the want of power 
in the animal organs to rupture the husk of the grain. 
The result of the experiment demonstrates the import- 
ance of a certain amount of cookery in feeding cattle 
which are possessed of teeth only in one jaw. 

The data which have served as the basis of the pre- 
ceding calculations are included in the following table, 
as derived from repeated experiments : — 

Water and Solid Matter in Food. 



Solid Matter - 
Water - 


Milk. 


Dung. 


Grass. 


Barley. 


126 

87-4 


13-46 
86-54 


31' 

69- 


90-54 
9-46 



The white cow's milk on the second of July, or ninth 
day of the experiment, possessed the following compo- 
sition, the specific gravity being 1,032 : 



84 ENTIRE BARLEY AS FOOD. 

Water 87*40 

Soluble salts 017 

Insoluble salts - 042 
Butter ^ 

Sugar > 12-01 
Casein J 

In several determinations the water in the milk of 
both cows was never found to vary more than a few 
tenths when prooerly dried. 

In comparing this experiment with the preceding, by 
examining the proximate tables, (Table I. Appendix,) 
we find that while 100 lbs. of dry grass produce about 
11^ lbs. of dry milk, 100 lbs. of dry grass and entire 
barley mixed produce 8| lbs. of dry milk. Grass alone 
produces a larger quantity of dung than mixed barley 
and grass fodder ; 100 lbs. of grass leaving 33J lbs. of 
dung, while barley and grass produce only 30 lbs. of 
dung; but 100 lbs. of the grass consumed, that is, the 
grass taken into the circulation of the animal, and not 
rejected in the form of dung, produces 17| lbs. of dry 
milk, while 100 lbs. of the mixed barley and grass diet 
form only 12 lbs. of dry milk. This may proceed 
from the circumstance that more solid matter was ac- 
tually contained in the grass than in the equivalent of 
barley employed ; but the cause becomes not so ob- 
vious when we consider that a portion of the barley 
was rejected entire along with the dung. The more 
probable explanation of the apparent anomaly may be, 
that the dung varies slightly in its composition ; the 
small difference of 3| lbs. may be owing to this source 
of error in the calculation. Another important deduc- 
tion from these two experiments in reference to econo- 
my is, that the total quantity of matter taken into the 



COMPOSITION OF BARLEY. 



85 



circulation daily is less, when grass is alone used, than 
when a mixed diet is employed ; the daily consumption 
being of dry grass, by both cows, 33| lbs., and of the 
mixed diet 42 lbs., being a difference of 9 lbs., or 4£ 
lbs. by each cow. 

This fact may be explained by the circumstance, that 
there is a greater difficulty in digesting the grass, from 
its greater bulk, than in absorbing the constituents of 
the steeped barley, a large portion of which is in solu- 
tion before being introduced into the stomach, and may 
be partially employed with greater rapidity in the pro- 
cess of producing heat, and partially be expelled as a 
liquid excretion. 

Ultimate Analysis of the Experiment. — The ultimate 
composition of barley was found to be as follows : — 



Carbon 
Hydrogen - 
Nitrogen - 
Oxygen 
Ash - 
Water 


I. 




II. 


ill. 


IV. 


4611 
6-65 
1-91 

42-24 
3-09 


41G4 
6-02 
1-81 

38-28 
2-79 
946 


201 


1-98 


1-95 


100- 


100- ! 







1st, 8*87 grains of barley, dried at 212°, gave, by 
combustion with chromate of lead, 15*04 carbonic acid, 
and 5*3 water. 

2d, 14 grains gave, with lime and soda, 1*88 plati- 
nums^ 1 per cent, nitrogen. 

3d, 0*923 gramme gave 0*288 gramme platino sal 
ammomac=r98 per cent, nitrogen. 

4th, 0*834 gramme gave 0*262 platinum salt=l*95 
nitrogen per cent.* 

* For these- two experiments I am indebted to Dr. Bottinger. 
8 



86 INFLUENCE OF 

5th, 11*13 gave 1*57 platinum=2'01 per cent, ni- 
trogen. 

Calculating from the composition of the grass and 
barley, we find that the two cows consumed 304— lbs. 
of carbon during the course of the experiment, with a 
proportionate amount of the other ultimate ingredients. 
In this experiment it was observed, that some of the 
grains of barley were ejected from the intestines 24, 48, 
and even 72 hours after being swallowed, in an entire 
state, so that they must have been detained in some 
portion of the alimentary canal during that lengthened 
period without having undergone any appearance of 
digestion. 



ENTIRE MALT AS FOOD. 



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ENTIRE MALT AS FOOD. 89 

The malt was covered with boiling-hot water, and 
allowed to remain for twelve hours, in the first part of 
the experiment ; in the latter period of the trial the 
malt was weighed out in three portions ; the last por- 
tion was therefore subjected to a digestion of twenty- 
four hours. The mash water was always acid, and 
yet was relished by the cattle. This is opposed to the 
observation of some, who affirm that acid liquors are 
not liked by cattle, although they are well known to be 
a luxury* to pigs. 

In consequence of the cattle having fallen off during 
the time in which they were fed with barley, farina- 
ceous food was entirely discontinued, and a larger 
quantity of grass was substituted previous to the com- 
mencement of the experiment with malt. The result 
of this experiment is at once observed by an inspection 
of the table. The brown cow fell off in the amount of 
butter during the first five days, but increased during 
the remainder of the trial. The white cow gave a 
larger quantity of butter with malt than with barley. 
The milk of both cows increased very considerably, 
while the weight of the brown cow, which had de- 
creased with the barley experiment, began to increase 
under the influence of the malt. We may infer, from 
the results of this experiment, the advantage of having 
a large portion of the food readily soluble and adminis- 
tered into the stomach of animals in this condition. 
The amount of butter would appear to depend more 
upon this provision than upon the quantity of matter 
soluble in ether existing in the food. 

The mean of several dryings gave the composition 
of the dung, — water 86, solids 14. 3840 grs. of malt 
bruised gave 52*7 grs. of oil=i'37 per cent. 
8* 



8-41 lbs 


. dry milk. 


7-08 


ditto. 


1-82 lbs 


i. butter. 


207 


ditto. 




Loss. 


lbs. 


lbs. 



90 ENTIRE MALT AS FOOD. 

According to the preceding trials, it appears that the 
barley and malt experiments may be compared as fol- 
lows : — (See Appendix I.) 

I. Milk: 

100 lbs. of hay and barley produce 
100 lbs. of hay and malt produce 
II. Butter : 

100 lbs. hay and barley produce - 
100 lbs. hay and malt produce 



III. Weight of cattle : 

Weight of cattle before barley ex- 
periment .... 2030 
Weight of cattle after ditto - 1989 41 
" " before malt ditto 2044 
" " after ditto - 2022 22 

It is obvious from this experiment that barley pro- 
duced more milk than malt, even although it was only 
partially digested ; that malt produced a little more 
butter ; and that the cattle diminished in weight in both 
experiments : most in the barley experiment, in conse- 
quence of a considerable quantity of it being thrown out 
without being used by the system. 

It is interesting to observe, that although the barley 
and grass contained the largest amount of oil and wax, 
they produced a smaller proportion of butter than the 
malt and grass. This, however, may have been in part 
owing to the imperfect extraction of the solid ingre- 
dients in the barley experiments in consequence of the 
husks remaining entire. The experiment is one, how- 
ever, from which no deductions, to be entirely depended 
on, are to be made. It demonstrates the necessity of 
cooking barley, more especially when it is employed to 



COMPOSITION OF FOOD AND DUNG. 



91 



feed cattle. (1) 8'96 grains of malt, dried at the tem- 
perature of 212°, gave, when burned with chromate of 
lead, 14*3 carbonic acid and 566 water. (2) 7*86 
grains gave 12'91 carbonic acid, and 5*01 water. This 
corresponds with, per cent : — 



Carbon 


I. , 


II. 


III. 


IV. 




4393 


44-780 


_ 


_ 


4244 


Hydrogen - 


700 


7-060 


- 


- 


664 


Nitrogen - 


1-50 


1-620 


119 


1-26 


111 


Oxygen 


4630 


44763 


- 


- 


43-08 


Ash - 


1-27 


1777 


- 


- 


1-68 


Water 


- 


- 


- 


- 


505 


100- 


100- 






100- 



Total amount of constituents of food and dung, of 
both cows, in ten days : — 



Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen 
Ash - 


Food. 


Dung. 


Consump- 
tion. 


Each per 
Day. 


lbs. 

238- 

322 

9 06 

214-88 

34-22 


lbs. 
102- 
1243 
4- 

82-57 
21-80 


lbs. 

136- 

19-77 

506 

132-31 

1242 


lbs. 
6-80 
0-99 
0-25 
611 
062 


14-77 



Experiment IV. — Crushed Barley steeped in Boiling 
Water. 

As it appears from the preceding experiments that, 
when barley was given in an entire state, a considera- 
ble portion of the grain escaped the action of the di- 
gestive organs, in consequence of the interposition of 
the husk, it was necessary to try the effect of the 
grain as an article of food after it had been mechan- 
ically bruised. 



92 



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91 



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EFFECT OF BARLEY AND MALT 





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& 







ON MILK AND BUTTER. 97 

Experiment VI. — Larger Quantity of Crushed Barley 
steeped in Boiling Water. 

In the preceding malt experiment the amount of 
grain was pushed farther than in the case of barley ; it 
was therefore considered advisable to give a similar 
trial to that grain. The result shows that no advantage 
is gained by the administration of so much grain, and 
that a deteriorating effect is induced. The cause of 
this seems to depend on the excess of nutritive over 
calorifient food, as will be afterwards explained. 

Comparison of Experiments IV., V., and VI. 

I. Milk. 

100 lbs. of mixed barley, hay, and grass pro- 
duced 8*17 lbs. milk. (Appendix I.) 

100 lbs. of mixed malt and hay produced 7 95 
lbs. milk. 

II. Butter. 

100 lbs. barley, hay, and grass produced 1*95 

butter. 
100 lbs. malt and hay produced 1*92 butter. 

III. Weight of cattle. 



Weight of cattle before barley experiment 

— after — — 

— after malt — 


lbs. 
2022 
2111 
2069 


Gain. 


Loss. 


89 


42 



According to this view of the experiment, it appears 
that the malt produces a smaller amount of milk and 
butter when combined with hay than in the barley ex- 
periment, and. that the cattle were losing weight, and 

9 



98 BARLEY AND MALT AS FOOD. 

consequent strength, daily ; while with barley they 
were gaining weight daily. In whatever manner, 
therefore, we view the experiment, this is an insur- 
mountable objection to the use of malt, — that it is not 
capable when used in any quantity, comparatively with 
barley, to sustain the weight and consequent strength 
of animals. But there is another aspect in which the 
experiment should be examined, and this is obviously 
the correct one, since a larger quantity of malt was 
used than of barley. If we consider the hay a constant 
quantity, and then calculate the amount of product 
which would comparatively result from each grain, the 
consequences would be as follows, (Appendix I. :) — 

I. Milk. 

100 lbs. of barley would produce by Experi- 
ment IV. 34*6 lbs. dry milk. 

100 lbs. of malt would produce by Experiment 
V. 26-2 lbs. dry milk. 

II. Butter. 

100 lbs. of barley would produce by Experi- 
ment IV. 7'66 lbs. butter. 

100 lbs. of malt would produce by Experiment 
V. 6*35 lbs. butter. 

By the present mode of comparison then it appears 
that, in every point of view, malt is inferior to barley as 
an article of diet for cattle, as it gives less milk and 
butter, and diminishes the live weight, instead of in- 
creasing it, which barley does under the same circum- 
stances. 

All these practical results are explained by the chemi- 
cal examination of the barley and malt, which will be 
subsequently stated and discussed. In the mean time 



COMPOSITION OF BARLEY AND MALT. 



99 



it may be sufficient to intimate that the deductions now- 
made from the practical trials are in exact accordance 
with experiments conducted in the laboratory. The 
soluble salts are much diminished in the malt, and hence 
a larger quantity of the grain would be required than 
of barley to produce the salts of a given amount of 
milk. The quantity of nitrogen is inferior to that in 
the barley, and hence malt must be inferior in nutritive 
agency to the barley, in comparing equal weights, while 
the quantity of sugar being greater, the amount of 
butter produced might be equal or nearly so to that 
formed from barley, as is observable in some of the 
experiments. 

On the Chemical Nature of Barley and Malt. 

From the nature of malting it might be expected that 
a considerable difference would exist between barley, 
before and after being subjected to this process. 

In the following experiment the malt was made from 
the same specimen of barley, so as to enable a tolerably 
correct comparison to be instituted. 

I. Difference in ultimate Composition. — The barley, 
when subjected to organic analysis with chromate of 
lead, was found to possess the following composition : — 



Carbon 




I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


41-64 


46-11 








Hydrogen - 


6'02 


665 








Nitrogen - 


1-81 


201 


1-91 


1-98 


1-95 


Oxygen 


37-66 


41-06 








Ash - - - 


341 


417 


430 


3-27 




Water 


946 










too- 


100- 









The first column exhibits the composition of the bar- 



100 



COMPARATIVE COMPOSITION OF 



ley in its natural state ; the second represents the con- 
stituents of the barley when dried at the temperature 
of 212°. 

Malt from the same barley was also analyzed, and 
the following result obtained : — 



Carbon 




I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


4244 


43-930 


44-78 






Hydrogen - 


6'64 


7-000 


7*06 






Nitrogen - 


111 


1-290 


1-26 


1-504 


1-62 


Oxygen 


43-08 


46-510 


4513 






Ash - - - 


1-68 


1-270 


1-77 






Water 


505 










100- 


100- 


100- 







In the first column we have the composition of malt 
in its natural state, and in the other columns its con- 
stituents at 212°, as determined by two analyses, the 
first column being calculated from the third column or 
second analysis, founded upon the determination of the 
amount of loss sustained when the grain was subjected 
for some days to the heat of boling water in a water 
bath. If we now divide the constituents of barley and 
of malt by their equivalents, or combining proportions, 
we shall be able to form some idea of the change which 
has taken place in the barley during its conversion 
into malt. The following is the result : — 



Barley 
Malt 



C. H. N. O. 

- 123 106 2 82 

- 119 112 90 



Difference - < 



loss 
8 gain. 



If we consider that 100 parts by weight of barley are 
converted by the process of malting into eighty parts 



BARLEY AND MALT. 



101 



by weight of malt, we shall have the following for- 
mulae : — 



Barley 
Malt 


- 


_ 


c. 

- 123 

- 90 


H. 

106 

85 


N. 0. 

2 82 
69 



33 21 2 13 loss; 

and the barley and its equivalent amount of malt will 
then stand as follows, per cent., and in eighty parts : — ■ 



Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen 
Ash - 
Water - 



Barley. 



4164 
6-02 
1-81 

37-66 
3'41 
9-46 



100- 



Malt. 



3395 
531 
0-88 

34-46 
134 
406 



80- 



Hence it appears that four equivalents of carbon have 
disappeared in the malting, without doubt in the form 
of carbonic acid, and an equivalent of nitrogen has also 
been removed in the shape of albumen, possibly in part 
as ammonia, while the malt contains six of hydrogen 
and eight of oxygen in excess over that contained in the 
barley. The odd atoms of oxygen are probably an 
error of experiment ; and if we allow this then, we shall 
have a difference in the malt, in the fact of six equiva- 
lents of water (6h. 6o.) having been added to it during 
the malting process ; and this admits of explanation 
from the circumstance, that one of the important altera- 
tions in malting consists of the conversion of starch into 
sugar. Now the difference between starch and sugar 
is simply that the latter contains more water than the 
9* 



102 IMPORTANCE OF NITROGEN AS 

former, the composition and difference of these sub- 
stances being as follows : — 



Starch - 
Sugar 


- 


c. 

- 12 

- 12 


H. 
10 

12 


o. 
10 
12 



2 2 difference. 

II. Difference in the Amount of Nitrogen, and con- 
sequent Nutritive Power of Malt and Barley. — In the 
preceding formulae the quantity of nitrogen lost has been 
somewhat exaggerated. In the formulae for malt the 
true amount of nitrogen approaches nearly 1£ equiva- 
lent, or 1*4; but the quantity of nitrogen in different 
parts of the same sample of malt varies very remark- 
ably, indeed to such a degree that the results obtained 
by three analysts, who had obtained almost identical 
numbers for the nitrogen in barley, differed as much as 
from 1*19 to 162. This indeed is a circumstance 
which might be anticipated from the nature of the pro- 
cess of malting, and is one which renders malt a very 
objectionable substance as an article of nourishment, 
since, in the same specimen, different portions would 
vary so much according to the preceding data, as that 
73 lbs. of one part would produce as much effect in 
the nourishment of an animal as 100 lbs. of another 
portion. 

If we estimate the albuminous principles of grain to 
contain 16 per cent, of nitrogen, then the amount of 
these substances in the barley examined will amount 
to 12*56 per cent., while the percentage of these prin- 
ciples in the malt will only be, by the lowest estimate 
of nitrogen, 7"43, and by the highest result it will be 
10. So that the relative nutritive powers of barley and 
malt, according to these estimates, will be as follows : 



A NUTRITIVE ELEMENT. 103 

59 barley =100 malt, according to lowest estimate. 
79 — = 100 — highest — 

These important facts render it also obvious that the 
difference in the amount of carbon in the two analyses 
of malt previously given may not have risen from errors 
of analysis, but from a difference actually in the consti 
tution of the malt. That which contained the largest 
amount of nitrogen would also contain the greatest 
amount of carbon. Indeed it may be looked upon as 
a rule with reference to nutritive bodies, generally 
speaking, that their power of sustaining the animal 
system depends, in relation to their ultimate composi- 
tion, upon the amount of carbon and nitrogen which 
they contain. Some have endeavored to prove that it 
is the amount of carbon to which we are to look in de- 
ciding upon the relative nutritive power'of food, while 
others have advocated the importance of nitrogen in 
forming such estimates. It seems, however, certain, 
from a careful study of all the facts, that such general 
rules cannot safely be adopted, since, in the case of oils, 
we have examples of substances containing much car- 
bon which are yet incapable of supplying the waste of 
the muscular substance of animals, and are therefore to 
be excluded from the rank of true nutritive principles ; 
while, again, we have gelatine or jelly containing near- 
ly as much nitrogen as muscular fibre itself, which has 
been proved to be incapable of supporting animal exist- 
ence, in the manner in which we understand that ex- 
pression when applied to beef or true muscular fibre. 
Dogs, for example, have been made to live for months 
on pure albuminous matter ; an experiment undoubted- 
ly somewhat unnatural, and incapable of being persist- 
ed in for any more considerable period. Again, the 



104 IMPORTANCE OF NITROGEN. 

true unsophisticated American Indians, near the sources 
of the Missouri, during the winter months, are reported 
to subsist entirely upon dried buffalo flesh — not the fat 
portions, but the muscular part ; and during this period 
those primitive inhabitants of the prairies, as they are 
made up of nomade tribes, every man being at war 
with his neighbor, are destitute of the means of supply- 
ing themselves with vegetable food, as they have no 
gardens, nor any species of cultivation ; but, more par- 
ticularly during their subsistence on dried pe?nmican, 
they are described by travellers who are intimate with 
their habits of life as never tasting even the most mi- 
nute portions of any vegetable whatever, or partaking 
of any other variety of food. These facts, then, tend 
to show that albuminous tissue is of itself capable of 
sustaining life." But we have no example of animals 
being capable of subsisting on gelatine or glue ; on the 
contrary, we have proof that animals, when restricted 
to the use of this species of matter, become deteriorated 
in health. In the mean time, therefore, it may be advi- 
sable to admit, that we are unacquainted with the exact 
position gelatine holds in the nutritive category, and to 
place it among the exceptions to the nearly general fact, 
that the amount of nitrogen is an important element in 
calculating the value of a substance as a nutritive agent. 
When we reflect that animals subsisting upon vegeta- 
ble food contain an equal quantity of gelatine as a con- 
stituent of their tissues with those which have partaken 
of animal food alone, we can scarcely fail to conclude 
that gelatine, or glue, is a product of the alteration of 
albuminous matter, and a stage in its downward pro- 
gress to the state of urea, or an ammoniacal salt, for the 
purpose of being removed from the system ; and hence, 



CARBON CONSUMED DAILY. 105 

that it is not capable of forming the muscular or highest 
order of animal matter. With this exception, then, we 
are inclined to adopt the idea, that the amount of car- 
bon and nitrogen present in a substance supplies us 
with one of the data for calculating its capability to 
supply the waste of the muscular system of animals, 
the relation of the two substances, to constitute an effi- 
cient nutritive substance being nearly as 70 to 9 of their 
equivalents, represented by the formula 70 C. 9 N., the 
relation in gelatine being nearly as 66 C. 8£ N. The 
first formula will be found useful for practical purposes ; 
since, when we have determined by analysis the amount 
of carbon and nitrogen consumed by an animal, we can 
distinguish, by dividing the respective numbers by those 
of the formulae, how many equivalents of the total car- 
bon are associated with the nitrogen, and employed by 
the animal for the purpose of supplying the waste of 
the muscular system, or by bearing in mind that the 
relation of nitrogen to the carbon of muscular fibre is 
as 16 to 5,3 nearly, we can discover the amount of car- 

53*xa 
bon united to the nitrogen by the simple formula . 

In a cow, for example, consuming per day 7 lbs. of carbon 

and \ lb. of nitrogen, it will be found how insignificant 

is the quantity of carbon required for repairing the loss 

53 X'25 
of the muscular system, . — = 0*828 lbs. Hence 

16 

we see that 6*172 lbs. of carbon of the daily food of a 

cow must be employed for a purpose totally distinct 

from proper nutrition. We are at present acquainted 

with only one other purpose for which the carbon of the 

food can be employed, viz. for the generation of animal 

heat throughout the body ; a function undoubtedly 



106 OXYGEN CONSUMED DAILY. 

carried on, not only in the lungs, but also throughout 
the entire capillary system of the skin, at least in man 
and perspiring animals. If this view be correct, then 
it follows that upwards of 6 lbs. of carbon are expended 
by a cow daily in the production of animal heat. And 
as 1 lb. of carbon, when combined with the necessary 
amount of oxygen to form carbonic acid, gives out as 
much heat as would melt 104'2 lbs. of ice, it is evident 
that the quantity of ice capable of being melted by the 
heat generated by a cow in one day would amount to 
upwards of 625 lbs., or it would heat 1 lb. of water 
87,528°. It would consume at the same time the 
enormous quantity of 330429 cubic inches of oxygen, 
or 191} cubic feet of this gas ; and as this amounts to 
one-fifth of the atmospheric air, we find that a cow, con- 
suming 6 lbs. of carbon for respiratory purposes, would 
require 956} cubic feet of atmospheric air, a sufficient 
indication of the immense importance of a free ventila- 
tion in cow-houses, and of the danger of overcrowding, 
if the animals are expected to retain a healthy condi- 
tion. It is not to be supposed that the food, destined 
for the purposes of respiration, is thrown off in the form 
of carbonic acid as soon as it passes into the circula- 
tion. On the contrary, we may infer, from various ex- 
periments, that it remains for some time in the system 
in the condition of preparatory fuel, if we may so speak, 
undergoing during that period certain changes neces- 
sary for enabling it to take part in the respiratory 
function. 

III. Difference in the Saline Constituents of Barley 
and Malt. — Barley. — The amount of inorganic matter 
existing in different specimens of barley varies very 



SALTS OF BARLEY AND MALT. 107 

considerably. This might be anticipated from the fact, 
which is now generally admitted, that the azotized or 
nutritive principles of grain or seeds bear a relation to 
the phosphoric acid present. (Liebig.) Thus, if the 
quantity of phosphoric acid in barley be small, it will 
follow that the amount of nitrogen will be proportion- 
ally deficient, and that the nutritive effect of the grain 
will be comparatively low in the scale, because the solu- 
bility of the albuminous matters, and therefore their 
capability of being carried into plants, appears to depend 
on the presence of the phosphates. In the analyses 
which have been published of this nature, the experi- 
menters have omitted to state whether the husks were 
included in the amount of grain burned by them ; in 
the following results the omission has been filled up. 
In the three last experiments, 1000 grains of the barley 
were burned ; in the first, the amount ignited was 
about fifty grains, but the ash was perfectly white, con- 
taining not a trace of charcoal. 

Flour. With husk. 

Barley - I. II. III. IV. V. VI. 

Inorganic matter, 

per cent. - 417 3'87 327 3-20 3*02 2'70 

In all these experiments the grain was dried at 212°, 
and each number represents the percentage of inorganic 
matter. The specimens were all different, but the fii t 
result was obtained from the barley used in the experi- 
ments. These numbers differ to a considerable degree 
from the experiments hitherto published. The follow- 
ing are such as have come in our way with reference 
to the per-centage amount of ash in barley : — 



108 SALINE MATTER IN 

I. II. 

1-80 2-70 

Saussure. Koechlin. 

The first of these specimens was probably derived 
from the neighborhood of Geneva, the second was from 
Neufchatel, near the lake of that name in Switzer- 
land. 

The following was found to be the per-centage com- 
position of the ash of barley : — 

Silica - 29-67 

Phosphoric acid - - - 36*80 

Sulphuric acid - - - - 0*16 

Chlorine 0*15 

Peroxide of iron - 0*83 

Lime - 323 

Magnesia ----- 4-30 

Potash 16-00 

Soda - 8-86 

Some chemists have found no alumina in the ashes 
of grain. Boussingault states that he generally finds 
traces, and in this respect our observations agree, and 
in some instances the quantity has appeared almost too 
considerable to be accidental. 

Malt. — We are now in a condition to compare the 
influence of malting on the saline constitution of the 
barley. In this respect the results of the present ex- 
periments corroborate those made upon the amount of 
nitrogen contained in various specimens of malt, for we 
find that the quantity of saline matter varies consider- 
ably, although not more than in different specimens of 
barley ; but we are drawn to the conclusion, that a 
substance so unequal in its composition in reference to 
the proportion between the soluble and insoluble saline 



BARLEY AND MALT. 109 

ingredients is scarcely to be recommended as a food 
capable of producing a steady effect. The following 
experiments exhibit the amount of saline matter in dif- 
ferent samples of malt contained in 100 parts of the 
grain dried at 212° : — 





With husk. 




I. 


II. III. 


IV. 


2-38 


2-66 2-43 


2*46 



Table of the Saline Constituents of Malt. — The fol- 
lowing table presents the results of careful analyses of 
the ashes of malt : — 







I. 


II. 


III. 


Silica - 


- 


28-74 


28-65 


28-98 


Phosphoric 


acid 


3534 


33-18 


34-65 


Chlorine 


- 


Trace 


036 




Peroxide of 


iron 


1-59 


1-94 


1-72 


Lime 


- 


3-89 


513 


3-62 


Magnesia 


- 


9-82 






Potash - 


- 


1454 


11-72 




Soda - 


- 


6-08 


4-90 





To determine the nature of the saline ingredients 
removed from barley in the malting process, it was 
necessary to examine the solid constituents of steep 
water. For this purpose several gallons of steep water 
were evaporated to dryness, and yielded about half its 
weight of jorganic matter, consisting of albumen and 
sugar, &c. 

100 grains of the salt containing this organic matter, 
dried at 212°, afforded '878 nitrogen, which is equiva- 
lent to 5*49 per cent, of albumen. The salts consisted 
of alkaline phosphates, carbonates, sulphates, and chlo- 
rides. 

JO 



110 EFFECT OF THE 

Effect of the Process of Malting. — These analyses 
afford some information in reference to the process of 
malting, and to the change which the barley undergoes 
by this operation. One of the most striking alterations 
produced in the barley, by its being steeped in cold 
water for forty hours and upwards, is to diminish its 
weight. Equal volumes or measures of barley and 
malt were found respectively to weigh 424 and 325 
grains. This would give us 100 parts by weight of 
barley, equivalent to 76' 65 of malt ; but as barley ex- 
pands slightly, or increases in bulk by steeping and 
conversion into malt, the difference between the two 
conditions is scarcely so considerable. In three re- 
turns obtained by us from maltsters, we are informed 
that — 1st, 27 cwt. of barley become 22^ of malt, or 
equivalent to 100 barley and 83 \ malt ; 2d, a bushel 
of barley weighing 55 lbs. becomes, when malted, from 
43 to 45 lbs., or equal to 100 barley, and from 78*2 to 
82 lbs. malt ; 3d, a bushel of barley weighing 55 lbs. 
becomes 43 lbs. when malted, or as 100 to 78' 2. The 
mean of all these indicates a loss which the barley 
sustains by malting of nineteen per cent., and upwards ; 
or the loss might be taken approximately at twenty per 
cent., or one-fifth. The whole of this loss is not, how- 
ever, solid matter ; for, according to our trials, barley, 
when not crushed, contains 131 per cent, of water, 
and malt in the same condition 7'06 per cent, of water, 
capable of being dissipated at the temperature of 212°. 
Hence, of the nineteen per cent, of loss sustained by 
the barley in malting, six per cent, is water. There 
thus remain therefore only thirteen per cent, to be 
ascribed to solid loss. The quantity of saline matter 



PROCESS OF MALTING. Ill 

removed from the barley is considerable. A mean of 
several trials gives, for the ash of barley, three per 
cent., and for that of malt 2' 52 per cent. Now as 100 
barley are equal to 80 malt, the quantity of ash which 
malt should contain is 2*42, if the loss of inorganic and 
organic matter were equable, which we observe it to be 
almost approximately from this experiment ; for the 
relation of the ash which has disappeared, or 0*48 per 
cent., bears almost the same proportion to the organic 
matter also removed as the total quantity of ash in 
barley does to the total organic matter of that grain. 
Thus barley contains eighty : four per cent, of dry or- 
ganic matter, and three per cent, of ash, while malt has 
lost 0'48 per cent, of ash, and 12*52 of organic matter ; 
and by calculation we have — 

As 3 : 0-48 : : 84 : 134; 

a remarkable coincidence, as if proving that water is 
incapable of removing the ash of plants until the or- 
ganic matter has undergone such a change as to allow 
the ash to separate. We have thus an argument in 
favor of the subsistence of a chemical union between 
the inorganic and organic matter of which the substance 
of farinaceous grain is composed. Should this view 
be well founded, the amount of ash in grain, we might 
expect, would bear a constant ratio to the dry organic 
matter by weight in whatever soil it might be grown. 
It would also follow that cold water will not take up 
saline matter from an entire seed simply by washing 
or slight digestion. 

The loss sustained by barley in malting may perhaps 
be stated as follows ■ — 



112 EFFECT OF THE 



Water 

Saline matter 
Organic matter - 



1900 



The nature of the saline matter removed from the 
barley is exhibited in the analysis of steep-water ash, 
although it is not so easy to explain the source of some 
of the constituents. We observe, in the first instance, 
that silica has been removed from the barley ; the steep- 
water ash containing about 2 per cent, of silica. That 
this substance is united with potash is obvious from the 
gelatinization which occurs when hydrochloric acid is 
added to the steep salt. The origin of the carbonic 
acid, or rather its condition of union, is not so apparent : 
it might be attributed to the impurity of the water, but 
the presence of a minute amount only of lime opposes 
this explanation. The water used in the steep was the 
Clyde water, which contains chalk in solution, and sul- 
phate of lime. To this source the sulphuric acid may 
.^owe its presence. The richness of the steep water in 
alkaline salts suggests its employment as a manure. A 
considerable part of the organic matter of the barley is 
dissipated in the form of carbonic acid, but a large por- 
tion of the albumen and sugar is also dissolved in the 
water, the solution of the albuminous matter being pro- 
bably assisted by the action of the phosphates, which 
are capable of dissolving, it is well known, some of its 
forms, more particularly casein. The quantity of ni- 
trogen obtained from the steep salt, when evaporated 
and dried at 212°, was very considerable, being equiv- 
alent to five and a half per cent, of albumen, if the 
whole of the nitrogenous matter existed in the form of 



PROCESS OF MALTING. 113 

that principle. But, besides this substance, there was 
present also a large quantity of other organic matter in 
the steep solution, since the steep salt, when dried at 
212°, and then ignited, lost upwards of forty per cent, 
of its weight. 

The views which we have been discussing of the 
difference in the chemical composition of barley and 
malt are sufficient to render it obvious that malt is a 
much more expensive substance, irrespective of duty, 
than barley for feeding, inasmuch as it is in reality bar- 
ley deprived of a certain portion of its nutritive matter 
and salts. The only advantage which it seems to hold 
out in cattle feeding is the relish which it gives to a 
mash ; but as this depends entirely upon the sugar 
which it contains, and which has been produced from 
the starch of the barley, it is obvious that the same 
flavor may be imparted by the addition of an equivalent 
amount of molasses or sugar, should it be considered 
expedient. But we believe this mixture would be op- 
posed to the true laws of dieting, to be subsequently 
discussed : we have always, however, found steeped 
barley to be highly relished by cattle. Malt, however, 
from the diastase it contains, has the power of speedily 
converting the starch of barley into sugar : according 
to Payen, a handful of malt would be sufficient to sac- 
charize several pounds of barley in the steep. 
10* 



114 EFFECT OF MOLASSES, 



CHAPTER VII. 

EFFECT OF MOLASSES, LINSEED, AND BEANS, IN THE 
PRODUCTION OF MILK AND BUTTER. 

MOLASSES GIVES LESS MILK AND BUTTER THAN A DIET CONTAINING MORE 

NITROGEN. LINSEED GAVE LESS BUTTER THAN BEAN MEAL, ALTHOUGH 

CONTAINING MORE OIL, PROBABLY IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE CONSTI- 
TUENTS OF BEANS BEING IN THE NATURAL PROPORTION TO RESTORE 
THE WASTE OF THE ANIMAL SYSTEM. 

The following experiments were instituted for the pur- 
pose of determining the effect of other important species 
of food to "serve as objects of comparison. The tables 
which follow include the result experienced by feeding 
both cattle on barley and molasses, barley and linseed, 
and on bean meal. The object of continuing the barley 
with the molasses and linseed was to enable an appre- 
ciation to be more readily formed of the effect of the 
substitution of one kind of food for another, without 
subjecting the animal to an entire change of diet. This 
mode of procedure was suggested by physiological 
principles, and was conducted in the same manner as 
the dieting of the human species. The experiments, 
however, have shown that attention to this point is not 
so indispensable as might at first sight appear, since a 
complete change of food is often followed by an in- 
crease of the secretions of milk and butter. 



LINSEED, AND BEANS. 115 

For steady and unwearied assistance in the whole of 
these experiments, I have been much indebted to my 
intelligent pupil, Mr. Hugh B. Tennent. Most of the 
weighings, &c. of food were made by us conjointly, 
and none of them without the presence of one or both 
of us. 



116 



BARLEY AND MOLASSES. 



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EFFECT OF LINSEED, MOLASSES, AND BEANS. 121 

From the three preceding tables we learn the follow- 
ing particulars in reference to the milk and butter of 
the cows : — 

I. Milk: lbs. 
1000 lbs. of hay, barley, and molasses produce 

of dry milk - 806 

1000 lbs. of hay, barley, and linseed - - 84*5 

1000 lbs. ditto bean meal - - 81 3 

II. Butter: 

1000 lbs. of hay, barley, and molasses produce 

butter --.-___ 2T9 

1000 lbs. of hay, barley, and linseed - - 215 

1000 lbs. ditto * bean meal - - 225 

or, considering the hay a constant quantity, then we 
have the results as follows : — 

I. 



II. 



By examining the 4th Table in Appendix, we ob- 
serve the comparative effect of linseed and beans, during 
equal periods, in producing milk and butter. In the 
case of the white cow, particularly, the results are quite 
unequivocal ; for while during five days the milk pro- 
duced by beans was equal to the mean of that produced 
by linseed during ten days, the amount of butter under 
the bean diet was greater than under any other kind of 
food whatever. This is an important fact in reference 
to the source of butter in the food, since the linseed 
meal, employed in the experiments, contained twice as 

11 



Milk: 


lbs. 


1000 lbs. barley and molasses produce of milk 


237 


1000 lbs. ditto linseed 


257 


1000 lbs. bean meal ----- 


252 


Butter : 




1000 lbs. barley and molasses produce of butter 


645 


1000 lbs. ditto linseed - 


657 


1000 lbs. bean meal - 


70-0 



122 EFFECT OF LINSEED AND BEANS AS FOOD. 

much oil as the bean meal. In the brown cow also the 
quantity of butter was greater, especially during the . 
second five days, with beans than with linseed. Mo- 
lasses produced in the brown cow also a larger quantity 
of butter than the linseed, while the amount was slightly 
inferior to that produced by the beans. These facts, 
then, are not agreeable to the opinion that the amount 
of butter afforded by a cow is a test of the amount of 
oil contained in the food ; and hence we are not entitled 
to recommend oily food as preferable for the production 
of butter and of fat in animals to food which experience 
teaches us to be productive of this effect, although less 
rich in oleaginous matter. Indeed, the constant prac- 
tice of giving oil cake to cattle is not an argument in 
favor of the importance of oil in the formation of fat, 
since from oil cake as much of the natural oil of the 
rape-seed or linseed has been removed by expression 
as mechanical means can effect. The oil-cake argu- 
ment is so much the more, therefore, calculated to re- 
fute the objects to which it is generally applied. 

The chemical composition of the linseed and bean 
meal is calculated to throw some light on the causes 
of the differences in the amount of products in + he ex- 
periments. The following table represents the ultimate 
composition of linseed and bean meal, determined by 
combustion with chromate of lead. 



AND BEANS AS FOOD. 



123 



Table of ultimate Composition of Linseed and Beans. 





Linseed. 


Beans. 




Dried at 




Dried at 


Carbon - 


4251 


212°. 


4076 


212°. 


49-55 


4559 


Hydrogen 


622 


7-26 






Nitrogen 


3-78 


441 


413 


461 


Oxygen - 


26-35 


3068 






Ash ... 


6-94 


8-10 


322 


396 


Water - 


1420 




1060 





Table of the Composition of the Ash of Linseed and 
Bean Meal. (Horse Bean.) 



Silica - 

Phosphoric Acid - 

Sulphuric Acid 

Chlorine 

Lime ... 

Peroxide of Iron - 

Magnesia 

Potash - 

Soda - - 



Linseed. 


Bean Meal. 


34-85 


1312 


2522 


3526 


2-85 


1-29 


trace 


175 


695 


518 


323 


1-80 


8-04 


903 


16-85 


2315 


222 


9-42 



The great preponderance of alkaline salts in bear 
meal is observed distinctly in its incineration, as the ash 
fuses into a white salt, and, if care is not taken, will en- 
close charcoal, which can with difficulty be burned 
away. To avoid this obstacle the meal should at first 
be burned, with free exposure to air, at a low red 
heat. 

From this and the preceding table we find that a 
given weight of bean ash contains a much larger quan- 
tity of phosphoric acid than the same amount of linseed ; 
but as the ash of linseed is double in amount to that of 



124 WAX CANNOT SUPPLY BUTTER. 

the beans, there is present a larger per-centage of phos- 
phoric acid than in beans. Linseed, however, contains 
a large quantity of silica and sand, which is useless to 
the animal system. The superior influence of beans in 
producing milk and butter is attributable to the consti- 
tuents of milk existing with proper equilibrium. They, 
therefore, restore the waste of the animal system in the 
proper proportions. 

The present tables also seem to prove most conclu- 
sively, that the butter of the cows cannot possibly be 
produced from the wax and oil of the food, since the 
greater portion of the wax of the food reappears in the 
dung, (Table I. Appendix,) being expelled from the ani- 
mal without change ; while the butter and wax of the 
dung greatly exceed all the oil and wax of the food. 
From these circumstances it is very much to be doubt- 
ed, whether the wax of hay occupies any place in the 
production of the fat and butter of animals. In all the 
experiments the wax of the dung was found always to 
vary slightly, so that it seems highly probable if the 
whole wax had been extracted from the dung, it would 
be found that all the wax of the food was excreted by 
the animals. 



QUANTITY OF MILK PRODUCED, ETC. 125 



CHAPTER VIII. 

QUANTITY OF MILK PRODUCED BY DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD. EFFECT 

OF GRASS IN PRODUCING MILK. — INFLUENCE OF VARIETY OF FOOD ON 

MILK AND ON MAN. ECONOMICAL DISHES FOR THE POOR. — EFFECT OF 

BARLEY AND MALT ON MILK. EFFECT OF MOLASSES, LINSEED, AND 

BEANS ON THE PRODUCTION OF MILK. INFLUENCE OF QUANTITY OF 

GRAIN IN THE PRODUCTION OF MILK. RATE AT WHICH FOOD IS 

CHANGED INTO MILK. RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT KINDS 

OF FOOD IN THE PRODUCTION OF BUTTER. 

We cannot, from a mere statement of the quantity of 
the produce supplied to the dairy by a cow, judge of the 
influence of any particular species of food upon the 
animal, in consequence of the number of incidental cir 
cumstances which tend to interfere with the natural pro 
cesses carrying on in the animal system. The present 
series of experiments, as they have extended over a 
longer period of time than any which have previously 
been presented to the public, will tend in some measure 
to exhibit irregularities dependent upon the conditions 
in which the animals existed, and probably enable some 
conclusions to be drawn explanatory of such apparent 
anomalies. It may be convenient to direct attention to 
a few of these in considering some of the general con- 
clusions. 

I. Quantity of Milk 'produced by different Kinds of 
Food. — In making inquiries respecting the amount of 
milk afforded by cows, we cannot fail to be struck with 
the vague and imperfect manner in which the attention 

11* 



126 QUANTITY OF MILK 

of agriculturists is directed to weighing and measuring. 
Thus, for example, in Scotland, where milk is generally 
reckoned by the Scottish pint, when this measure is 
compared with the English system there is almost uni- 
formly an error made in over-estimating its capacity. 
The usual allowance is four English to one Scottish 
pint ; but the true relation between these measures is 
much inferior to this — the English or imperial pint 
having a capacity of 34'659 cubic inches, and the 
Scottish pint of 103*4 cubic inches, a Scottish pint is 
very nearly equal to three English pints. When meas- 
urements have been made according to the Scottish 
system, a certain degree of caution must, therefore, be 
exercised in converting them to the English standard. 
Now, as in Scotland the actual measurements are 
generally made with the Scottish pints, when the 
amount of milk is stated in English pints we may almost 
safely conclude that the estimate has been greatly over- 
drawn ;*but, even taking these sources of error into 
consideration, it is very remarkable how great a differ- 
ence exists in the amount of milk given by cows under 
similar circumstances. No one will be surprised at the 
Alderney cow of Mrs. Tabitha Bramble* affording a 
daily supply of 4 gallons of milk, or 32 pints, when we 
read, in more recent times, of a short-horn giving 17 
Scottish pints, (51 imperial pints,) or 64 \ lbs., at 10^ 
lbs. to a gallon ; and of a roan cow yielding 30 Scottish 
pints, (90 imperial pints,) or ] 15J lbs., and requiring to 
be milked five times a day, so that at each milking 2\ 

* " I am astonished that Dr. Lewis should take upon himself to give 
away Alderney without my privity and concurrants. Alderney gave 
four gallons a day ever since the calf was sent to market." — Humphrey 
Clinker. 



PRODUCED BY COWS. 127 

gallons must have been extracted from the animal,* an 
average allowance for one cow during the whole day. 
All these statements must be understood as referring to 
cows which are allowed to graze at least during the day, 
and must be viewed as extraordinary cases. A nearer 
approach to an average will be obtained by directing 
attention to the produce of an Ayrshire cow fed in 
Berwickshire, which yielded, during July 1845, C>i 
Scottish pints, (19^ imperial pints,) 25 lbs. ; or to an 
Alderney cow in Lancashire, which supplied an average 
amount, in June 1845, of 20 imperial pints = 25^ lbs. ; 
but even in such instances, which are taken from low- 
land pasture grounds, the quantity often exceeds this 
by several pints, and sometimes also falls below it to 
the same extent, without any very apparent cause. In 
moorland pastures the average amount of milk is, how- 
ever, much inferior to what has been stated. In one 
locality in the neighborhood of Glasgow, where many 
cows are kept, the supply from each animal does not 
average more than from 12 (15J lbs.) to 14 (18 lbs.) 
imperial pints per day ; and in another moorland farm 
the amount varies from 10 (12f lbs.) to 15 (19 lbs.) im- 
perial pints. With a statement of these data for com 
parison we are enabled to form an idea of the influence 
exercised in the experiment detailed. When the cows 
were at pasture in Ayrshire they yielded 20 imperial 
pints each per day, (25 \ lbs. ;) then they were in full 
exercise, and without any restriction in the amount of 
their food. They might in these circumstances be rep- 
resented as in a state of nature, and without any of the 

* If the old Scotch wine measure is here meant, then it would be 
equivalent to about twelve imperial gallons. 
Stephens' Book of the Farm, III. 1275. 



12S EFFECT OF GRASS AND 

artificial conditions which must always, to a certain 
extent, interfere with the animal processes. An ani- 
mal enjoying exercise must also consume a larger 
amount of food than one shut up, or, in other words, it 
must convey into the system a greater quantity of ma- 
terial for producing milk than an animal in a state of 
confinement. 

(1.) Effect of Grass in producing Milk. — For seven 
days after coming to Glasgow, where they were con- 
fined in a roomy and airy cowhouse, and fed on cut 
grass, the red cow (the less symmetrical of the two 
animals) gave a larger amount of milk than when at 
pasture ; the greatest quantity of milk during the week 
being 27j lbs., and the smallest amount being 24£ lbs., 
the mean being 26^ lbs. ; there was therefore, in this 
case, a decided increase in the amount of milk. With 
the other cow the result was quite different ; the quan- 
tity of milk appears to have diminished immediately 
with the confinement ; the mean of the first seven days 
being 22| lbs. It is difficult to account for the great 
difference in the result of the produce of the two ani- 
mals upon any other supposition than that the constitu- 
tion of the one admitted of confinement with less detri- 
ment to its system than the other. The causes which 
have been previously alluded to when treating of the 
characters of the animals may, probably, also supply a 
solution to these apparent anomalies. But we deduce 
the important inference from these facts, that no correct 
generalization can be arrived at from an isolated ex- 
ample. During the seven remaining days of the ex- 
periment the quantity of milk fell off with both cows • 
that of the brown cow subsiding from a mean of 26-3 



VARIETY OF FOOD ON MILK. 129 

lbs. to 22} lbs., and that of the white cow from 22£ lbs. 
to 20£ lbs. There was, altogether, a difference in the 
daily amount of milk, from the beginning to the end of 
the fortnight, in the case of the brown cow of 4 lbs., 
and in the white cow of 2 lbs., although the amount of 
food continued the same throughout. 

(2.) Influence of Variety of Food on Milk. — The 
considerable falling-off depended undoubtedly, in some 
measure, upon the confinement to which the animals 
were subjected, although on examining the tables it 
will be found to be a pretty uniform result, that a change 
of food produces an increase in the quantity of milk, 
and that after the same diet has been continued for 
some days the milk begins to diminish in amount. 
There are several exceptions in the tables, some of 
which, however, admit of simple explanation. In the 
second experiment, which was made with entire barley 
steeped, the quantity of milk decreased very rapidly. 
In the case of the brown cow there was a difference 
between the milk of the first and last day of the experi- 
ment of 5 lbs., and in the white cow of 2| lbs. This 
arose from a quantity of the barley being ejected by the 
animals without being digested. Entire malt being 
given raised the amount of milk immediately, and the 
quantity continued to rise daily till it amounted at the 
end of the trial, in the case of the brown cow, to an 
increment of the last over the first day's milk of 3 lbs., 
and in the white cow of 4 lbs. We can see at once 
why there was an improvement under the malt regi- 
men, from the circumstance that., being much more 
soluble than the barley, it was not ejected by the ani- 
mals ; indeed, none of it was observable in the dung, 



130 INFLUENCE OF VARIETY 

while a considerable proportion of barley was always 
carried to the dung-heap. The second and third ex- 
periments do not serve to prove any point in reference 
to the dietary of animals, but they may be useful as 
evidence to show that the more divided the food is, the 
greater is the amount of milk produced. In the fourth 
experiment, with crushed barley, the brown cow's milk 
decreased li lbs. in sixteen days, and the white cow's 
10 oz., or considerably more than half a pound, in the 
same period. In the fifth experiment, with crushed 
malt, the brown cow's milk declined 2£ lbs. in sixteen 
days, and the white cow's upwards of 2$ lbs. In the 
sixth experiment, with a larger quantity of crushed 
barley, the brown cow's milk continued to increase up 
to the fourth day, and then began to decline ; a similar 
result attended that of the white cow. In the seventh 
experiment, with molasses and barley, the brown cow's 
milk reached its acme or culminating point on the 
second day of the trial, and it then continued to decline 
till the close of the experiment on the tenth day. With 
the white cow, the greatest amount of milk was afforded 
on the fifth day, when it began to decline and gradually 
diminish till the termination of the trial. In the eighth 
experiment, made with barley and linseed, the amount 
of milk continued to increase for a longer period than 
usual ; the largest quantity given by the brown cow 
was on the ninth day, and by the white on the eighth 
and ninth days. With the bean meal, in the ninth ex- 
periment, the milk continued to increase up to the fifth 
day, when the trial closed.* That a change of diet is 
necessary for animals which are kept in a confined 

* See Diagram, and Miscellaneous Table No. IV. 



ON MILK AND ON MAN. 131 

condition is proved by the tables previously given, in a 
striking manner, and the results now obtained amply 
sustain the idea supported by me some time ago in 
reference to the dietary of human beings shut up in 
poor-houses and places of confinement. It was then 
argued that, " in order to retain the human constitution 
in a healthy condition, variety of food should be prop- 
erly attended to,"* and different species of diet were 
suggested as well calculated to supply a series of dishes 
to the poor. In the Asylum for the Houseless, and in 
the House of Refuge at Glasgow, the recommendations 
were followed out ; and, according to the report of the 
treasurer, Mr. Liddell, the dinner meals being varied 
two or three times every week, "the change in the 
dietary routine is much relished by the inmates, and 
may have had some effect in the greater degree of 
health which has been evident among them of late."t 



* Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, p. 39. 
t Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, vol. i. p. 40. 
The following economical and wholesome dishes are formed on the 
principles enunciated, and are used in the public charities of Glasgow 
Fish Pudding for Ten Persons. 

Quantity Quantity 

for One. for Ten. 

2 lbs. oz. 20 lbs. oz. potatoes, at \d. per lb. 
8 5 salt fish, at 2d. per lb. 

0\ 2£ lard or dripping, at 8d. per lb. 

pepper - 



84 25 2i 



s. 


d. 





5 





10 





H 





o* 


1 


5 



Cost, exclusive of fire and cooking, under \\d. per head. Steep and 
boil the fish as long as the saltness and size of the article to be used re- 
quires, take out the bones, boil the potatoes in a separate vessel, beat 
the whole together. If a fire or oven can be had, brown the top of 
tho dish. 



132 VARIETY OF FOOD. 

The analogy subsisting between the physical nature 
of human beings and of many of our domestic animals 
would lead us to the conclusion, upon physiological 
grounds, that their dietary should be conducted upon 
precisely similar principles. To prove this by exact 
experiments is a point, it will be admitted, of consider- 
able importance to the agriculturist, although it may 
have been, as might be expected, surmised by many 
intelligent observers. Not only, however, is variety 
of food requisite for an animal in an artificial state, it 
is found also to be beneficial to one in a condition more 
akin to that of nature. For it is upon this principle 

A Stewed Hash of Sheep's Draught for Ten Persons. 

Quantity Quantity 

for One. for Ten. s . d 

2 lbs. oz. 20 lbs. oz. potatoes, at \d. per lb. - - 5 

5£ 3 8 two sheep's draughts, bd each - 10 

8 onions, Id. ; pepper, salt, and flour, 2d. 3 

2 5£ 24 16 



Cost, exclusive of fire and cooking, full lfd. per head. Boil the 
lights for one hour, preserving the water ; hash said lights, liver, and 
heart together with flour, pepper, salt, and onions ; then stew the whole 
for one hour, using the water in which the lights were boiled. The 
boiling and stewing should be done over a very slow fire. 

A Mince of Cow's Heart for Ten Persons 

Quantity Quantity 

for One. for Ten. s . d. 

2 lbs. oz. 20 lbs. oz. potatoes, at \d. per lb. - - - 5 

4 2 8 half a heart, Is. 6d. - - 9 

8 onions, Id.; pepper, salt, and flour, Id. 2 



Cost, exclusive of fire and cooking, full l^d. per head. Cut up and 
wash the heart well. Mince it very small, using onions, flour, pepper, 
and salt. Stew the whole over a slow fire for two hours. 



EFFECT OF BARLEY AND MALT. 133 

that we arc able to account for the superior influence 
of old natural pastures, which consist of a variety of 
grasses and other plants, over those pastures which are 
formed of only one grass, in the production of fat cattle 
and good milk cows. To any one who considers with 
attention the experiments which have been detailed, 
there cannot remain a doubt in the mind that cattle, 
and especially milk cows, in a state of confinement 
would be benefited by a very frequent and entire 
change in their food. It might not be too much to say 
that a daily modification in the dietary of such animals 
would be a sound scientific prescription. The effect 
of variety of food is exhibited in the frontispiece. In 
considering the case of the white cow, we find that a 
change from barley to barley and molasses increased 
the milk in three days from 21 lbs. 6 oz. to 23 lbs. 7 oz.; 
on changing from malt to barley it increased from 19 
lbs. 10 oz. to 20 lbs. 11 oz. on the first day ; from bar- 
ley to barley and linseed, it increased from 21 lbs. 2oz. 
to 23 lbs. 12 oz. on the sixth day ; from barley and lin- 
seed to beans, it increased on the first day from 21 lbs. 
13 oz. to 23 lbs. 14 oz. Some of these changes can 
be traced in the diagram placed as a frontispiece, while, 
at the same time, we obtain from it a distinct view of 
the relative influence of the different species of food in 
keeping up a great or regular supply of milk. 

(3.) Effect of Barley and Malt on Milk.— In con- 
sidering the influence of barley and malt on the pro- 
duction of milk, it is obvious that Experiments II. and 
III. offer no data from which conclusions can be drawn, 
except to point out the useful practical fact, that grain 
should never be given to cows in an entire state, but 
12 



134 INFLUENCE OF BARLEY AND 

that it should always be ground or crushed, and then 
steeped before being presented to them. If we com- 
pare experiments IV. and V., we find that in sixteen 
days 141 lbs. of crushed barley steeped produced in 
the brown cow 342 lbs. of milk, and in the white 351 
lbs. of milk, and that both animals gained in weight; 
while, again, 168 lbs. of malt produced in the brown 
cow 310 lbs. of milk, and in the white 345 lbs. of milk, 
during sixteen days ; the former cow gaining some 
weight, and the latter losing a little. The quantity of 
malt exceeded that of the barley by 27 lbs., and yet 
the brown cow gave 32 lbs. less of milk with malt than 
with barley, and the white cow only 6 lbs. less milk ; 
hence, in the brown cow 100 lbs. of barley produced 
as much effect as 131 lbs. of malt, and in the white 
cow 100 lbs. of barley were equivalent to 119 lbs. of 
malt. Now, as 100 parts of barley, when malted, be- 
come eighty of malt, it is obvious that 100 parts of 
barley are equal in value to 125 of malt, for 80 : 100 
:: 100 : 125. If we take the mean of the result of the 
preceding experiment, we find that 100 of barley go as 
far in producing milk as 125 of malt, 119 + 131-^-2 
= 125. Again, by a mean of three experiments, the 
amount of nitrogen in malt was found to be 1*52 per 
cent., and that of barley 1'96 per cent., by four experi- 
ments, which would make 100 parts of barley equiva- 
lent to 128 of malt in nutritive power. These are all 
remarkable coincidences of theory and practice, and 
cannot fail to convince us that the proportions stated 
are very close approximations to the nutritive equiv- 
alents of barley and malt, or, in other words, that malt 
is about one-fifth inferior to barley in its nutritive effects. 
In considering the sixth experiment, which was made 



MALT ON MILK. 135 

for the purpose of comparing the effect of a large quan- 
tity of barley with a large amount of malt, it will be 
observed, that the experiment commenced when the 
amount of milk was declining under the malt regimen, 
but that as soon as the barley was given the milk began 
to increase in both cows. The weather, however, at 
this time, became much warmer than it had hitherto 
been. The mean temperature, as exhibited in the table, 
became more elevated ; but the numbers in the table 
will scarcely give an idea of the stagnant sultry nature 
of the atmosphere in the cowhouse, in the immediate 
neighborhood of which, in a room without a fire, the 
thermometer during the five days stood at 66°, and at 
one period of the thirtieth, or first day of the experiment, 
rose to 70°. The cattle were, during this period, very 
much troubled with flies, which produced, as all agri- 
culturists will understand, much agitation and constant 
movement. These circumstances are calculated to ex- 
plain the loss of weight sustained by the brown cow, 
and they account for the fact that the increase of milk 
was not so rapid as in the previous barley experiment. 
This experiment may be viewed as an interesting ex- 
ample of the influence which atmospherical causes 
exercise upon the production of milk, and exhibits a 
result perfectly in accordance with the experience of 
good agricultural observers. From the circumstances 
mentioned it is obvious that this experiment should not 
be taken apart from the previous barley trial, since the 
conditions were somewhat different under which it was 
made ; but we have employed it along with the other 
trial in striking an average, as in Miscellaneous Table 
No. IV. Another effect which came into operation in 
this experiment I believe to be, that the quantity of 



136 EFFECT OF MOLASSES, LINSEED, 

barley was too great, and that more nutritive matter 
was given in proportion to the heat-producing matter 
than was fitted for the support of the system, and thus 
gave occasion to a deteriorating action. 

(4.) Effect of Molasses, Linseed, and Beans in the 
Production of Milk. — If we examine the Miscellaneous 
Table No. IV., we find the mean quantity of milk 
afforded by the brown cow, every five days under dif- 
ferent regimens, was as follows : — Barley, 107 lbs. ; 
malt, 97 ; barley and molasses, 101 ; barley and linseed, 
102^; beans, 99|. And by the white cow the mean 
quantities respectively were, every five days, barley, 
109 lbs.; malt, 108J; barley and molasses, 112-J-; 
barley and linseed, 115J; beans, 115 T 6 o. Of all these 
articles of food, in both cases, malt gives the smallest 
produce. Then comes, with the white cow, barley, 
and the other articles increase in effect as they stand 
above, bean meal affording the greatest amount of 
produce. It will be observed, in examining the bean 
meal table, that the milk increased up to the termina- 
tion of the experiment ; and that in the case of the 
white cow, the quantity yielded exceeded that supplied 
by this animal on any previous occasion, except in one 
solitary instance under the grass diet. The quantity 
of milk given by the white cow on the 18th September, 
under the bean regimen, amounted nearly to 25j lbs., 
thus approaching closely to that afforded by both cows 
when they were at pasture three months previously. 
This cannot fail to be admitted as an interesting fact, 
and is strongly corroborative of the propriety of the 
partiality of cow-feeders for bean meal as an article of 
nutrition for their stall-fed cattle. If we take a mean 



AND BEANS ON MILK. 137 

of the produce of the two cows, as previously stated, 
we shall find the relative influence of each in the pro- 
duction of milk to be as follows : — Commencing with 
that which possesses the lowest nutritive power, malt 
produces 102*66 lbs. of milk; barley and molasses, 106f ; 
bean meal, 107*68; barley, 108; barley and linseed, 109. 
We think it better to state the mean produce of the 
two cows, because it will afford an average of what we 
might expect to meet with in feeding a number of cattle 
with these various articles of food. A comparison of 
the experiments on the two cows, however, fully de- 
monstrates that one kind of food will produce a greater 
influence on one animal than on another ; and that, as 
with human beings, probably, attention should be be- 
stowed on what is agreeable to each individual animal, 
both in reference to its palate and constitution. For it 
should be always borne in mind that stall-fed animals 
are not in a natural condition, and that being placed 
under artificial restrictions, a due consideration of the 
adequate means of counterbalancing the adverse cir- 
cumstances of their condition can alone conduce to a 
true theory of humane stall-feeding. 

(5.) Influence of Quantity of Grain in the Produc- 
tion of Milk. — To ascertain the amount of grain best 
calculated to afford the largest supply of milk is a prac- 
tical point of no small importance to the cow-feeder. 
Perhaps from Miscellaneous Table No. IV. the best 
solution to this question may be obtained, in reference 
to the articles of food employed in the present series 
of experiments. In the barley experiment it will be 
observed, that when 12 lbs. of barley were given daily, 
.ne amount of milk was inferior, in both cows, to tha; 
12* 



138 RATE AT WHICH FOOD 

obtained when 9 lbs. was the diurnal allowance. This 
result seems so decided, in both series of experiments, 
that it may almost be considered as established, that 
no adequate advantage appears to be attained by push- 
ing the supply of barley to a cow beyond the extent of 
9 lbs. daily. An increase in the quantity of malt ap- 
pears sometimes to increase the quantity of milk ; but, 
in general, the same deduction may be made with ref- 
erence to malt as to barley, that in a remunerative point 
of view, 9 lbs. a day may be considered a larger pro- 
portion of malt to supply a cow. It is highly probable, 
indeed, that a smaller amount, especially if the animals 
were allowed a certain limited degree of exercise, 
would be found fully as efficient as a larger quantity. 
We have, in the body of the report, endeavored to ex- 
plain this upon the physiological principles of digestion, 
and to show, that, as ruminating animals more espe- 
cially are possessed of great capacity of stomach, an 
excess of concentrated food, by failing to effect ade- 
quately the purpose which bulky food accomplishes — 
of exciting the coats of the stomach to secrete their 
digesting fluid — will tend rather to diminish than to in- 
crease the result which we desire to gain. 

(6.) Rate at ivhich Food is changed into Milk. — As 
a variety of views prevail with regard to the period re- 
quired by the animal system for the conversion of food 
into milk, I endeavored to solve this question by keep- 
ing an accurate register of the amount of milk supplied 
by a cow, morning and evening. From this register it 
appears, that in the course of a month, the brown cow 
gave the largest amount of milk in the evening only 6 
tirres, while the white cow was in the same condition 



IS CHANGED INTO MILK. 139 

only 3 times. It may be considered therefore certain, 
during these experiments, that as a general rule the 
greatest quantity of milk was yielded by the cows in 
the morning. An example, taken at random from the 
register of the white cow's milk, will show the force of 
this observation : — 





Food. 




Milk. 


Aug. 1. 


Barley and hay 


morning 


lbs. oz. drs. 
11 8 15 






evening 


10 3 14 


2. 


— 


morning 


11 7 1 






evening 


9 11 9 


3. 


— 


morning 


11 10 15 






evening 


9 11 9 


4. 


— 


morning 


10 14 5 


5. 


Barley, molasses, and hay, 


evening 
morning 


9 11 3 
11 4 10 


6, 


— 


evening 
morning 
evening 


10 4 8 
12 5 7 
10 10 11 



Now, as comparatively a small amount of food is con- 
sumed during the night, it is obvious that this superior 
amount of milk must be derived from the previous day's 
fodder. An observation which was frequently made, 
viz. that undigested food did not appear in the dung till 
sixteen hours after being swallowed, would tend to de- 
monstrate that, during this period at least, absorption 
of the nutritive part of the food was going on ; since we 
know that along the whole course of the intestinal canal 
the soluble food continues to be taken up through the 
coats of the viscera. 

II. Relative Influence of different Kinds of Food 
in the Production of Butter.— In the Table IV. (Appen- 



140 SOURCE OF BUTTER. 

dix) we have collected the amount of butter produced 
by five kinds of food during periods of five days each. 
But previous to these trials, thus arranged, the largest 
quantity given by the brown cow was under the grass 
regimen. The first five days of the experiment yielded 
4"93 lbs. of butter, after which the quantity diminished 
to the last five days of the trial, when the quantity 
yielded amounted to 3*75 lbs., a proportion not supe- 
rior to what was produced in some of the subsequent 
experiments. The same law does not appear to hold 
with reference to the diminution of the butter as per- 
tains to that of the milk, when the food has been con- 
tinued for some time. We find, on the contrary, fre- 
quently the amount increasing towards the close of the 
experiment, even when it is continued for ten or fifteen 
days. The largest amount of butter was afforded in 
the brown cow by crushed barley. During the third 
series of five days the amount was 3*935 lbs. ; bean 
meal gave the next greatest quantity 369 lbs. in five 
days ; then comes barley and linseed, 3'689 lbs. during 
the first five days ; barley and molasses, 3*63 lbs., and 
malt 360 lbs. In the case of the white cow the quan- 
tity was, beans, 3*76 ; barley and linseed, 3'421 ; crush- 
ed barley, 3*376 lbs. ; barley and molasses, 3*26 ; and 
malt 3*126. With both animals we observe that malt 
is lowest in the scale, a fact which seems in some 
measure to militate against the idea of the origin of 
the butter being in the sugar of the food. Be this as it 
may, however, although there are many counter argu- 
ments in favor of the opinion that sugar affords such a 
supply, we think the Tables II. and III. (Appendix) 
tend to show that there is no relation between the but- 
ter of the milk and the wax and oil of the food ; since 



SOURCE OF BUTTER. 141 

frequently, when the oleaginous matter of the food is 
small, the butter is more considerable than on other oc- 
casions when the reverse happens. Since then the 
facts contained in the tables, and the arguments used 
in the body of the report, seemed to prove that the but- 
ter cannot be supplied from the oil of the food, it be- 
comes an interesting point for the agriculturist to learn 
from what element of the food it proceeds. It may 
safely be inferred that it must be formed from some 
other constituent of the diet by means of the vascular 
system, either as a primary or secondary stage. - Sugar 
affords the most simple element from which it may be 
produced, because we now understand how the acid of 
butter can originate from sugar ; but even the albumi- 
nous principles might afford butter. (Wiirtz, Liebig.) 
Upon these grounds, then, we can infer that a certain 
degree of exercise would be more conducive to the pro- 
duction of fat than if the animal is allowed to remain 
at rest ; because, as the source of the fat or butter is 
dependent on the process of respiration, it is obvious 
that the more the function is encouraged within mod- 
erate bounds, the greater will be the amount of the oil- 
giving principle of the food taken into the system and 
converted into fat. We believe that this theoretical de- 
duction is perfectly in consonance with the experience 
of good observers, who find that box or hammel feeding 
is more conducive to health of cattle and cows destined 
for the butcher, or for the production of butter, than 
close plant-like confinement, which is foreign to the na- 
ture of every animal, and at variance with the first prin- 
ciples of physiological science. 

It appears to result from these experiments, as an 
irresistible conclusion, that the fat or butter of the milk 



142 SOURCE OF BUTTER. 

must be produced at the expense of the calorifient in- 
gredients of the food, aided by the presence of the nu- 
tritive or azotized principles ; and that the greatest pro- 
duct of butter must be obtained when the two ingredi- 
ents of the food are present in the best proportions. 



THE MUSCLES OF ANIMALS. 143 



CHAPTER IX. 

MUSCLE OF THE BODY SUPPLIED BY THE FIBRIN OF THE FOOD. FIBRIN 

SUPPLIES HEAT TO THE BODY. ADDITIONAL OR CALORIFIENT FOOD AL- 
SO REQUIRED. AMOUNT OF NUTRITIVE AND CALORIFIENT FOOD CON- 
SUMED BY A COW PER DAY. THE TRUE LAWS OF DIETING. AMOUNT 

OF NUTRITIVE MATTER IN VARIOUS KINDS OF VEGETABLE FOOD. 

ARROW-ROOT IMPROPER FOR INFANT FOOD. BUT USEFUL IN DISEASES. 

THE LARGEST QUANTITY OF MILK PRODUCED BY FOOD CONTAINING 

THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF NITROGEN. GRASS AN EXCEPTION TO THIS 

RULE. EXPLANATION OF THIS FACT. NEW FORMS OF BREAD. OAT- 
MEAL BREAD BARLEY BREAD INDIAN CORN BREAD PEAS BREAD. 

MODE OF BAKING. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FERMENTFD AND UNFER- 

MENTED BREAD. UNFERMENTED BREAD RECOMMENDED. 

The idea which is now entertained by physiologists, 
that the muscular part of the animal frame is derived 
from the albuminous constituent, of the food, was clear- 
ly pointed out by Beccaria in the year 1742. (Histoire 
de VAcademie de Bologne, Collect. Acad. xiv. 1.) He 
demonstrated that the flour of wheat contained two 
characteristic ingredients, which on distillation or di- 
gestion afford products totally dissimilar to each other. 
One of these, which he termed the starchy part, re- 
sembles in its constitution vegetables, and supplies 
analogous products. Vegetable substances, he says, 
may be recognised by their fermenting, and yielding 
acids without exhibiting symptoms of putrefaction. The 
glutinous part of flour, on the contrary, resembles ani- 
mal matter, the distinguishing feature of which is its 
tendency to putrefaction and conversion into a urinous 
(ammoniacal)* liquid. " So strong," he adds, "is the 



144 FIBRIN SUPPLIES HEAT TO THE BODY. 

resemblance of gluten to animal matter, that if we were 
not aware of its being extracted from wheat, we should 
not fail to mistake it for a product of the animal world." 
To be convinced that he considered this identical sub- 
stance to enter into the constitution of our frames, it is 
only necessary to quote his query : " Is it not true that 
we are composed of the same substances which serve 
as our nourishment ?" The same doctrine has been 
taught and practised in our own country, in more re- 
cent times, by Dr. Prout, and is now almost universally 
received by European physiologists, although the true 
authors may not have been always recognised. That 
the systems of animals are capable of sustentation by a 
supply of fibrinous matter almost alone is obvious from 
the history of the primitive inhabitants of the prairies of 
America. It is stated on good authority, (Catlin,) that 
there are 250,000 Indians who live almost exclusively 
on buffalo flesh during the year. The fresh meat is 
cut in slices of half an inch in thickness across the grain, 
so as to have fat and lean in layers, and is hung up ex- 
posed to the sun and dried. Upon this food, which is 
pounded, and eaten sometimes with marrow, the wild 
hordes of the West are not only nourished, but it is ob- 
vious that the heat of their bodies is kept up, since they 
taste no vegetable food whatever. Fibrin, then, is 
calorifient, or capable alone, we infer, of producing ani- 
mal heat. Liebig, it is well known, divides the functions 
of the food into nutritive and respiratory. I have ven- 
tured to employ, instead of the latter term, the expression 
calorifient or heat-producing, so as to give a wider 
range through the whole system to the function of the 
unazotized food than the more local term of respiratory 
would appear to imply. According to this view all food is 



USE OF CALORIFIENT FOOD. 145 

destined for repairing the waste of the body, and for the 
production of animal heat. The heat may be produced 
by the union of the carbon and hydrogen of the food 
with oxygen (the latter gaining admission to the system 
by the lungs, stomach, and skin,) or by the condensa- 
tion of oxygen during its substitution for hydrogen and 
formation of oxygen products. The preceding inference 
we also deduce from the experiment in which a dog 
was fed for some weeks on the glutinous matter of flour, 
{Magendie ;) and it may be further concluded, that fib- 
rinous or albuminous matter when given alone is par- 
tially converted into carbonic acid, and is removed from 
the system during the process of expiration. But it 
would appear, from consideration of the experiments 
which have been made on the nutrition of animals with 
pure fibrin, that an auxiliary in the production of ani- 
mal heat is either indispensable or highly advantageous, 
since animals fed on fibrin alone invariably declined in 
health, (Magendie,) and the American Indians have a 
certain admixture of fat with their dry meat, and are in 
the habit likewise of using marrow with it. 

The reason why an auxiliary is required for the sup 
ply of animal heat appears to be, that the fibrinous 
matter which is taken up by the vessels of the intes- 
tines and is carried into the blood, requires to pass 
through the condition of muscular tissue before it can 
be of service as a calorifient agent. The only view 
which appears at present to be tenable is, that all or the 
greater part of the fibrinous and albuminous matters 
which enter the blood displace a certain amount of the 
same substances existing in a solid form in the system, 
as brain, muscle, &c, and that the displaced matter 
undergoes certain modifications ; probably, for example, 

13 



146 



AMOUNT OF NUTRITIVE AND 



it passes into the form of gelatin, and is excreted in the 
soluble state of urea, uric acid, and nitrogenous pro- 
ducts. It is in passing into these last conditions that 
we can alone expect fibrinous matter to give out animal 
heat. Time, therefore, is required to produce these 
changes. It is to save the system, then, from too rapid 
waste, and at the same time to afford an abundant sup- 
ply of heat, that the calorifient food is required, and is 
always employed by all members of the human family 
who have advanced beyond the savage state. 

That the amount of calorifient food, in contradistinc- 
tion to nutritive food, properly so called,* as it has been 
well defined by Liebig, is out of all proportion greater 
than that required to supply the waste of the solid mat- 
ter of the body, is obvious from the following table, 
which represents the amount of the ultimate consti- 
tuents of the food of a stall-fed cow, consumed during 
one day : — 





Food. 


Faeces. 


Consumption. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


Carbon - 


11-90 


510 


6-80 


Hydrogen - 


161 


0-62 


0-99 


Nitrogen - 


045 


020 


025 


Oxygen - 


10-74 


412 


662 


Ash - - 


1-71 


109 


062 


2641 


1113 


15-28 



The food in this case was grass, (the lolium perenne, 
or rye-grass.) If we now calculate the amount of food 
which was destined for nutrition by the formulae below,* 



* Albuminous matters contain about 53 per cent, of carbon, 7 of 
hydrogen, 16 nitrogen, and 24 oxygen. Hence, to obtain the carbon 



CALORIFIENT FOOD CONSUMED. 147 

we find that it amounts only to 156 lbs., as represented 
in a tabular form : — 

Nutritive. Calorifient. 

lbs. lbs. 

Carbon - - - 0828 - - 5-982 

Hydrogen - - 0109 - - 0771 
Nitrogen - - 0*250 

Oxygen - - 0373 - - 6247 



1560 13000 

A true system of dieting would therefore require such 
tables for each condition of animals, in order that a 
comparison may be instituted between the wants of the 
system and the food. If this mode of viewing the 
question be correct, then the relation of the nutritive 
part of the food absorbed by the animal system in the 
preceding experiment is to the calorifient portion as 1 
to 8| nearly. By comparing this fact, then, (which is 
independent of all hypothesis,) with-the different varie- 
ties of human food, it is probable that some light may 
be obtained in reference to the differences in the rela- 
tive proportion of these constituents. Milk, for exam- 
ple, the food of the infant mammalia, contains one part 
of nutritive to two parts of calorifient constituents, and 
in the growing state of an animal the nutritive part of 
the food not only supplies the place of the metamor- 
phosed solids, but an additional amount of it is required 
to increase the bulk of the individual ; and, as wa have 
already stated that animal heat is generated by the 
change or degradation of the fibrinous tissues, it is 

•25 X 53 

from the above table we have — — — = -828 lbs. carbon ; for the 

. , -828X7 1Ann . , ... -109X24 
hydrogen — — — = -109 lbs. hydrogen ; for the oxygen = ■ 

= 0-373 lbs. oxygen. 



148 RELATION OF NUTRITIVE TO 

obvious that in the nourishment of infant life there is a 
supply of heat from the casein, vastly superior to that 
afforded by fibrin supplied to full-grown animals, be- 
cause the amount taken in proportion to the quantity 
of calorifient matter is much greater. If we refer, 
again, to the food which is generally employed by the 
inhabitants of this country, wheat and barley, we find 
by a mean of experiments afterwards to be detailed, 
that the average amount of albuminous matter present 
in them is 1 1 per cent., while the quantity of starch and 
sugar existing in these substances may vary from 70 to 
80 per cent. ; thus affording the proportion of nutritive 
to calorifient food as 1 to 7, and upwards. Such food, 
it may be inferred, is fitted for the consumption of an 
animal which is not subjected to much exercise of the 
muscular system, and may be viewed as the limit of 
excess of the calorifient over the nutritive constituents 
of food. As the demands upon the muscular part of 
the frame become more urgent, the proportion of the 
azotized or nutritive constituents should be increased, 
and this may be extended until we arrive at the point 
where the fibrinous matter is equal to the half of the 
calorifient, which is probably, in a perfectly normal 
physiology, the greatest relative proportion of nutritive 
material admissible. 

The proportion of the nutritive to the calorifient 
constituents of food should therefore vary according as 
the animal is in a state of exercise or rest ; and it is 
upon the proper consideration of such relations that the 
true laws of dieting depend. For calculations of this 
nature, tables exhibiting the amount of albuminous 
matters in the different articles of food are indispen- 
sable, as they afford at a glance the required knowledge. 



HEAT-PRODUCING FOOD. 149 

The constituents of the flours used as human food are 
principally albuminous matter, calorifient matter, water, 
and salts ; so that when we have determined the amount 
of albuminous substance in the dried condition of the 
flour, the remainder may be estimated as calorifient 
matter without any sensible error. In the following 
table the water has not been removed from the flour 
The numbers are the results of my experiments : — 

Albuminous or Nutritive 
Matter per cent. 

Bean meal 2536 

Linseed meal - 23*62 

Scotch oatmeal - 15*61 

Semolina 12*81 

Canadian flour - - - - 11*62 

Barley 11*31 

Maize 10*93 

Essex flour - - - 10*55 to 11*80 

East Lothian flour - - 9*74 to 11*55 

Hay 9*71 

Malt 8*71 

Rice (East Indian) - 8*37 

Sago - 3*33 

South Sea arrow-root - - - 3*21 

Tapioca 3*13 

Potatoes 2*23 

Starch (wheat) - 2*18 

Swedish turnips - - - - 1*32 

The numbers represent the amount of albuminous 
matter contained in 100 parts of the various substances 
as they occur in commerce. As all of the substances 
in the table contain from 5 to 14 per cent, of water, 
certain deductions are required, to arrive at the true 
amount of calorifient matter. In general, it may be 
stated that wheat flour, maize, barley, and beans con- 

13* 



150 NUTRITION AND HEAT FROM FOOD. 

tain from 10 to 14 per cent, of water, while oatmeal 
contains 6 per cent., and tapioca, arrow-root, and sago, 
from 10 to 13 per cent. In order to arrive at the true 
amount of calorifient matter contained in the substances 
in the table, we have only to deduct the amount of al- 
buminous substances, with the water and salts, which, 
upon an average, amount together to about 12 to 15 per 
cent. Then, by dividing the remainder, or calorifient 
matter, by the amount of albuminous substances, we 
obtain the relation subsisting between the nutritive and 
calorifient constituents. In this manner tables may be 
constructed, illustrating the true practice of dieting. 

Approximate Relation of Nutritive to Calorifient Matter. 

Relation of Nutri- 
tive to Calorifient. 

Milk. — Food for a growing animal - - - 1 to 2 

Beans 1 — 2£ 

Oatmeal - - - - - - - 1 — 5 

Semolina 



Barley 

English Wheat Flour. — Food for an animal at rest 1 — 8 

Potatoes - - - - - - - 1 — 9 

Rice 1—10 

Turnips - - - - - - - -.1 — 11 

Arrow-root \ 

Tapioca > - - - - - - - 1 — 26 

Sago y 

Starch 1 — 40 

From this table we are led to infer that the food des- 
tined for the animal in a state of exercise should range 
between milk and wheat flour, varying in its degree of 
dilution with calorifient matter according to the nature 
and extent of the demands upon the system. The 
animal system is thus viewed as in an analogous con- 



FOOD FOR CHILDREN. 151 

dition to a field from which different crops extract dif- 
ferent amounts of matter from the soil, which must be 
ascertained by experiment. An animal at rest con- 
sumes more calorifient food in relation to the nutritive 
constituents than an animal in full exercise. The food, 
therefore, employed by a person of sedentary habits 
should contain more calorifient and less nutritive matter 
than one whose occupations cause him to take more 
exercise. It is to be desired that some light should be 
thrown on this subject by careful experiments. The 
food of animals and the manure of plants we thus see 
afford somewhat of a parallelism. Milk may therefore 
be used with a certain amount of farinaceous matter, 
such as the class of flours and meals, with probable ad- 
vantage.; but the dilution should not exceed the pre- 
scribed limits. It is thus that we may explain the fact 
of beans, oats, oatmeal, and barley meal being used so 
extensively in the feeding of horses. These articles 
of food, however, do not suffice alone : calorifient mat- 
ter in the form of hay should also be administered. 
From this table, likewise, we infer that, as nature has 
provided milk for the support of the infant mammalia, 
the constitution of their food should always be formed 
after this type. Hence we learn that milk, in some 
form or other, is the true food of children, and that the 
use of arrow-root, or any of the members of the starch 
class, where the relation of the nutritive to calorifient 
matter is as 1 to 26 instead of being as 1 \p 2, by an 
animal placed in the circumstances of a human infant, 
is opposed to the principles unfolded by the preceding 
table. In making this statement, I find that there are 
certain misapprehensions into which medical men are 
apt to be led at the first view of the subject. To render 



152 ARROW-ROOT IMPROPER FOR CHILDREN. 

it clearer, let us recall to mind what the arrow-root 
class of diet consists of. Arrow-root and tapioca are 
prepared by washing the roots of certain plants until 
all the matter soluble in water is removed. Now, as 
albumen is soluble in water, this form of nutritive 
matter must in a great measure be washed away : 
under this aspect we might view the original root before 
it was subjected to the washing process, to approximate 
in composition to that of flour. If the latter substance 
were washed by repeated additions of water the nitro- 
genous or nutritive ingredients would be separated from 
the starchy or calorifient elements, being partly soluble 
in water, and partly mechanically removed. Arrow- 
root, therefore, may be considered as flour deprived as 
much as possible of its nutritive matter. When we 
administer arrow-root to a child it is equivalent to 
washing all the nutritive matter out of bread, flour, or 
oatmeal, and supplying it with the starch ; or it is the 
same thing approximately as if we gave it starch ; and 
this is in fact what is done, when children are fed upon 
what is sold in the shops under the title of farinaceous 
food, empirical preparations of which no one can under- 
stand the composition without analysis. Of the bad 
effects produced in children by the use of these most 
exceptionable mixtures, I have had ample opportunities 
of forming an opinion, and I am inclined to infer that 
many of the irregularities of the bowels, the production 
of wind, &c, in children, are often attributable to the 
use of such unnatural species of food. How often are 
the ears of parents and nurses distressed with the ago- 
nizing cries of the helpless child, and how often are 
these symptoms of suffering treated as the effects of ill- 
humor, or of causeless peevishness ; when, on the con- 



NUTRITIVE EFFECT OF OATMEAL. 153 

trary, they have been produced by the improper diet in 
many cases with which the child has been supplied ! 
It should be remembered that all starchy food deprived 
of nutritive matter is of artificial production, and 
scarcely, if ever, exists in nature in an isolated form. 
The administration of the arrow-root class is therefore 
only admissible when a sufficient amount of nutritive 
matter has been previously introduced into the diges- 
tive organs, or when it is inadvisable to supply nutri- 
tion to the system, as in cases of inflammatory action. 
In such instances the animal heat must be kept up, and 
for this purpose calorifient food alone is necessary. 
This treatment is equivalent to removing blood from 
the system, since the waste of the fibrinous tissues 
goes on, while an adequate reparation is not sustained 
by the introduction of nutritive food. A certain amount 
of muscular sustentation is still, however, effected by 
the use of arrow-root diet ; since, according to the pre- 
ceding tables, it contains about one-third as much nu- 
tritive, matter as some of the wheat flours. The ex- 
tensive use of oatmeal, which is attended with such 
wholesome consequences among the children of all 
ranks in Scotland, is, however, an important fact de- 
serving of serious consideration ; and, it appears to me, 
is strongly corroborative of the principles which I have 
endeavored to lay down in the preceding pages. After 
the explanations which have been given, it is scarcely 
necessary to particularize further the specific nature of 
the food to be recommended for the use of children. 
A certain admixture of milk, the natural type of the 
food, is still to be retained, while the solid matter to be 
prepared along with it may be of great variety, such as 
bread made into panado, semoliua or pounded wheat ; 



154 OATMEAL VERY NUTRITIVE. 

I believe this kind of food, which is sold in the shops, 
to be generally prepared from wheat brought from a 
more temperate region than that of this country, in con- 
sequence of the amount of nitrogen which I have found 
in it. The best American wheat flour, good Scottish 
oatmeal, and barley-meal, may all be employed at dif- 
ferent times by way of variety, and repeated according 
to their agreement with the child's organs of digestion. 
The digestion of all these forms of food containing 
starch is greatly promoted by long boiling either with 
water or milk, as this process is just so much labor 
saved to the intestinal organs. It is thus obvious that 
we have a great variety of food fitted for children of 
which we know the composition, and that we should 
prefer it to any species of compounded stuff the con- 
stitution of which we are ignorant. It is a sufficiently 
remarkable fact, that oats increase in nutritive power in 
proportion to the increase of latitude within certain 
limits, while wheat follows an inverse law. Those 
who are in the habit of representing mankind as the 
" lords of the creation," who take the limited view of 
considering all that we see around us as created merely 
for their use, misapplying the thought — " the proper 
study of mankind is man ;" and who thus, with the 
characteristic vanity of earthliness, follow the footsteps 
of Kant, profanely attempting to survey the divine 
mind, will discern probably in this curious circumstance 
further proofs of their theory, as if to show " how little 
can be known." 

In the table which contains the amount of albuminous 
matter in different kinds of food, a second column, in 
accordance with tables of this description, might have 
been added, representing 100 parts of beans as equal in 



EQUILIBRIUM OF THE FOOD. 155 

nutritive power to 1 160 of starch ; but if the views now 
explained are legitimate, we see that such a method of 
estimating nutritive power is not founded on scientific 
principles. In a correct plan of d'ieting the proper 
equilibrium must be retained between the demands of 
the animal organism and the constitution of the food, 
otherwise, either the nutritive or calorifient system must 
be deteriorated. These views sufficiently explain the ex- 
periments which have been made upon cows ; in which 
the result was unfavorable, when they were fed on po- 
tatoes and beet-root in considerable quantities, as both 
of these substances contain an excess of calorifient 
matter. It is well known to feeders of cattle, that an 
animal fed on large quantities of potatoes is liable to 
complaints, such as affections of the skin, and also to 
loss of weight. These consequences, it may be readily 
inferred, are derived from the want of the proper bal- 
ance between the elements of the food. 

The importance of attention to the proper equilibrium 
of the constituents of the food is clearly pointed out in 
the following table, from which it is evident, that food 
containing the greatest amount of starch or sugar does 
not produce the largest quantity of butter, although 
these substances are supposed to supply the butter ; 
but the best product of milk and butter is yielded by 
those species of food which seem to restore the equili- 
brium of the animals most efficiently. The first 
column in the table represents the food used by two 
cows ; the second column gives the mean milk of the 
two animals for five days ; the third, the butter during 
periods of five days ; while the fourth contains the 
amount of nitrogen in the food taken by both animals 
during the same periods: — 



156 



EQUILIBRIUM OF THE FOOD. 









Milk in 


Butter in 


i 
Nitrogen 








five 


five 


in Food in 








Days. 


Days. 


five Days. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


• lbs. 


I. 


Grass - 


- 


114 


350 


232 


II. 


Barley and hay- 


- 


107 


343 


3'89 


III. 


Malt and hay - 


- 


102 


3-20 


3'34 


IV. 


Barley, molasses, 


and hay 


106 


344 


3-82 


V. 


Barley, linseed, and hay - 


108 


3-48 


4*14 


VI. 


Beans and hay 


- 


108 


3 72 


527 



We may infer, from these results, that grass affords 
the best products, because the nutritive and calorifient 
constituents are combined in this form of food, in the 
most advantageous relations. The other kinds of food 
have been subjected to certain artificial conditions, by 
which their equilibrium may have been disturbed. In 
the process of hay-making, for example, the coloring 
matter of the grass is either removed or altered ; a por- 
tion of the sugar is washed out or destroyed by fer- 
mentation, while certain of the soluble salts are re- 
moved by every shower of rain which falls during the 
curing of the hay. Perhaps similar observations are 
more or less applicable to the other species of food 
enumerated. 

The principles which we have been endeavoring to 
explain being understood, little difficulty will be expe- 
rienced in constructing dietaries, so as to meet the 
wants of the animal system under the particular circum- 
stances in which it may be placed. By various mix- 
tures of one kind of flour, less supplied with azotized 
matter, with another which is richer in this material, 
the equilibrium of the food which from meteorological 
causes prevailing in any particular country, may not 
have reached the proper standard, may be effectually 
restored. The wheat of England, for example, is infe- 



NEW FORMS OF BREAD. 157 

rior to that of the continent of Europe, and of America, 
as appears from the table. It may, however, be im- 
proved by an admixture either with foreign flour, or 
with oatmeal, barley, beans, or any of those substances 
which stand above it in the table ; and in this state it 
will be found to form palatable bread. All these spe- 
cies of grain owe their nutritive properties to the pres- 
ence of fibrin, casein, gluten, and albumen. It is in the 
predominance of gluten over the other azotized mate- 
rials that wheat owes its superior power of detaining 
the carbonic acid engendered by fermentation, and thus 
communicating to it the vesicular spongy structure so 
characteristic of good bread. By mixing one-third of 
Canada flour with two-thirds of maize, a very good loaf 
is produced, and when equal parts of flour and oatmeal, 
or of barley, or of peasmeal, are employed, palatable 
bread is the result. Beneficial effects would probably 
follow from the admixture of two or three different 
kinds of grain, and many of these forms of bread might 
be substituted with advantage for pure wheat flour in 
peculiar conditions of the system. 

When it is proposed to make a loaf of oatmeal and 
flour, the common oatmeal should be sifted so as to 
obtain the finest portion of the meal, or it may be 
ground to the proper consistence. This should be 
mixed then with an equal weight of best flour, Cana- 
dian, for example, and fermented. I have not suc- 
ceeded in making a good loaf with a smaller amount 
of flour than one half, although I have tried it in vari- 
ous proportions. If we were to attempt to raise oat- 
meal without an admixture with flour, in consequence 
of the absence of gluten, that principle which retains 
the carbonic acid of fermentation, we should obtain only 

14 



158 OATMEAL AND MAIZE BREAD. 

a sad, heavy, doughy piece of moist flour. This form 
of bread, it appears to me, and to many who have ex 
amined it, would be a great improvement on the hard, 
dry oat-cakes, so much used in the more unfrequented 
parts of our country, where the inhabitants have 
scarcely as yet commenced to share in what are in 
other localities considered to be necessaries of life. It 
is an observation which all must have made who have 
considered the condition of mankind in their various 
stages of advancement, that an increase in the physical 
comforts, and above all, the improvement in the diet, 
are the first symptoms of an onward movement in civil- 
ization. It has always appeared to me, that it is in 
vain to expect any other condition than that of retro- 
gression among people, such as are too abundant in 
Scotland and Ireland, where the clothing is so defi- 
cient as to leave the extremities of the body, more par- 
ticularly among the female classes, the educators of the 
community, in a state of nudity, and where the food is 
confined in a great measure to the watery potato, or 
the dry and unpalatable oat-cake.* 

Maize bread may be made of good quality by a 
smaller admixture of flour than is necessary in the in- 
stance of oatmeal. For this purpose, it should be re- 
duced to a fine meal, — finer than is usual in America. 
It may then be mixed with one-third its weight of best 
flour, and fermented in the usual way. When thus 
prepared, the best maize bread is always dark colored, 
and cannot be made much lighter than coarse wheat 
bread. The shade, however, is somewhat different 



* By custom, it becomes more agreeable, but at first it is usually 
nauseous, especially to one who is not a native of the country. 



BARLEY BREAD, AND BISCUITS. 159 

from that of wheat, as it inclines more to a yellow tint. 
We may be quite certain, however, when we see what 
is called maize bread possessed of a white color, that it 
contains much more than one-third its weight of wheat 
flour mixed with it. Even when one-half its weight of 
wheat flour is added to it, the dark color, characteristic 
of maize, is retained. In these cases, of course the 
price of the bread must be higher than when a smaller 
amount of maize is present. 

The whitest bread, however, is made by an inter- 
mixture of barley meal and wheat flour. The smallest 
amount of wheat flour in this mixture, which I have 
found requisite to make a good loaf, was one-half, al- 
though the quantity of flour may be diminished accord- 
ing to the increase in the richness of wheat in albumin- 
ous matter ; an observation which, of course, applies 
to the various kinds of bread to which allusion has 
already been made. The most successful of these 
varieties of bread is, perhaps, that which is made with 
equal quantities of peas-meal and flour, so far as re- 
spects the exterior aspect. The last, however, is pala- 
table, and the specimen is a good example of a whole- 
some, condensed vegetable diet, and would probably 
answer as a substitute for animal food where the func- 
tions of the stomach are not materially impaired. 

Upon similar principles, excellent biscuits may be 
made, either for rapid consumption, or for preservation, 
at a more moderate expense than when they are entirely 
composed of wheat flour. When a biscuit is formed 
ofrlndian corn, without any intermixture of wheat, the 
color has a yellow tint, which, however, in a great 
measure, disappears when wheat flour is added in the 
proportion of one-third. When destitute of the pres- 



160 FERMENTED AND 

ence of wheat, it is not so consistent, and is apt to 
crack and break off short. Oat-meal and barley-meal 
biscuits may be produced also by mixture with wheat 
flour. They require, however, a somewhat larger pro- 
portion of the latter, as their particles seem even less 
adapted of themselves to cohere than those of the In- 
dian corn. An admixture of a variety of meals forms 
a very palatable biscuit, as it possesses a sweeter taste, 
even without the artificial addition of sugar, than wheat 
flour alone. Such biscuits are calculated to keep for 
a longer or shorter time, according to the firing to 
which they are subjected. In the former case they 
are well calculated to keep at sea. 

Bread of such a description may be made either by 
the usual process of fermentation, or by the action of 
hydrochloric acid upon sesquicarbonate of soda. In 
many respects the latter process deserves the prefer- 
ence, when we consider the chemical nature of the two 
methods. 

The vulgar idea, which yields the palm of superiority 
to the former, does not appear to be based on solid 
data, and it seems desirable, that in a case of so much 
importance in domestic economy, the arguments in 
favor of such an opinion should be subjected to a careful 
experimental examination. Judging a priori, it does 
not seem evident that flour should become more whole- 
some by the destruction of one of its important ele- 
ments, or that the vesicular condition engendered by 
the evolution of carbonic acid from that source, should 
at once convert dough (if it were unwholesome) into 
wholesome bread. 

When a piece of dough is taken in the hand, being 
adhesive, and closely pressed together, it feels heavy, 



UNFERMENTED BREAD. 161 

and if swallowed in the raw condition, it would prove 
indigestible to the majority of individuals. This would 
occur from its compact nature, and from the absence 
of that disintegration of its particles which is the pri- 
mary step in digestion. But, if the same dough were 
subjected to the elevated heat of a baker's oven, 450°, 
its relation to the digestive powers of the stomach would 
be changed, because the water to which it owed its 
tenacity would be expelled, and the only obstacle to its 
complete division and consequent subserviency to the sol- 
vent powers of the animal system would be removed. 
This view of the case is fully borne out by a reference 
to the form in which the flour of the various species of 
cerealia is employed as an article of food by different 
nations. By the peasantry of Scotland, barley-bread, 
oat-cakes, peas-bread, or a mixture of peas and barley- 
bread, and also potato-bread, mixed with flour, are all 
very generally employed in an unfermented form with 
an effect the reverse of injurious to health. With such 
an experience, under our daily observation, it seems 
almost unnecessary to remark, that the Jew does not 
labor under indigestion when he has substituted, during 
his passover, unleavened cakes, for his usual fermented 
bread ; that biscuits are even employed when fermented, 
bread is not considered sufficiently digestible for the 
sick ; and that the inhabitants of the northern parts of 
India and of Affghanistan very generally make use of 
unfermented cakes, similar to what are called scones 
in Scotland. Such, then, being sufficient evidence in 
favor of the wholesomeness of unfermented bread, it 
becomes important to discover in what respect it differs 
from fermented bread. Bread-making being a chemi- 
cal process, it is from chemistry alone that we can ex- 
14* 



162 FERMENTED AND 

pect a solution of this question. In the production of 
fermented bread a certain quantity of flour, water, and 
yeast, are mixed together, and formed into a dough or 
paste, and are allowed to ferment for a certain time at 
the expense of the sugar of the flour. The mass is 
then exposed in an oven to an elevated temperature, 
which puts a period to the fermentation, expands the 
carbonic acid, resulting from the decomposed sugar and 
air contained in the bread, and expels the alcohol formed, 
and all the water capable of being removed by the heat 
employed. The result gained by this process may be 
considered to be merely the expansion of the particles 
of which the loaf is composed, so as to render the mass 
more readily divisible by the preparatory organs of di- 
gestion. But as this object is gained at a sacrifice of 
the integrity of the flour, it becomes a matter of inter- 
est to ascertain the amount of loss sustained in the pro- 
cess. To determine this point, I had comparative ex- 
periments made upon a large scale with fermented and 
unfermented bread. The latter was raised by means 
of carbonic acid generated by chemical means in the 
dough. But to understand the circumstances, some 
preliminary explanation is necessary. Mr. Henry of 
Manchester, in the end of last century, suggested the 
idea of mixing dough with carbonate of soda and mu- 
riatic acid, so as to disengage carbonic acid in imita- 
tion of the usual effect of fermentation ; but with this 
advantage, that the integrity of the flour was preserved, 
and that the elements of the common salt required as 
a seasoner of the bread was thus introduced, and the 
salt formed in the dough. 

The result of my experiments upon the bread produ- 
ced by the action of hydrochloric acid upon carbonate 



UNFERMENTED BREAD. 163 

of soda, has been, that in a sack of flour there was a 
difference in favor of the unfermented bread to the 
amount of 30 lbs. 13 oz., or, in round numbers, a sack 
of flour would produce 107 loaves of unfermented bread, 
and only* 100 loaves of fermented bread of the same 
weight. Hence it appears, that in the sack of flour by 
the common process of baking, 7 loaves, or 6\ per cent, 
of the flour, are driven into the air and lost. An impor- 
tant question now arises from the consideration of the 
result of this experiment : Does the loss arise entirely 
from the decomposition of sugar, or is any other ele- 
ment of the flour attacked ? 

It appears from a mean of eight analyses of wheat 
flour from different parts of Europe by Vauquelin, that 
the quantity of sugar contained in flour amounts to 5" 61 
per cent. But it is obvious that, as the quantity lost 
by baking exceeded this amount by nearly one per cent., 
the loss cannot be accounted for by the removal merely 
of the ready-formed sugar of the flour. We must 
either ascribe this extra loss to the conversion of a por- 
tion of the gum of the flour into sugar and its decompo- 
sition by means of the ferment, which is highly proba- 
ble, or we must attribute it to the action of the yeast 
upon another element of the flour ; and if we admit 
that yeast is generated during the panary fermentation, 
then the conclusion would be inevitable, that another 
element of the flour, beside the sugar, or gum, has been 
affected. For Liebig has well illustrated the fact that 
when yeast is added to wort, ferment is formed from 
the gluten contained in it, at the same time that the su- 
gar is decomposed into alcohol and carbonic acid. Now, 
in the panary fermentation, which is precisely similar 
to the fermentation of wort, we might naturally expect 



164 UNFERMENTED BREAD. 

that the gluten of the flour would be attacked to repro- 
duce yeast. 

A wholesale and palatable bread may be produced 
by the employment of ammoniacal alum, and carbonate 
of ammonia, or soda as a substitute for yeast'. In this 
process the alum is destroyed by the heat : the bread 
is vesicular and white, and rises, according to the judg- 
ment of the baker, as well as fermented bread. It is 
obvious that none of the ingredients added can affect 
the integrity of the constituents of the flour ; an oc- 
currence which may possibly happen in the preparation 
of bread by the common process of fermentation, as has 
been shown even to the azotized principles of the flour. 
The disadvantage of such a deterioration is sufficient- 
ly evident, if we view these principles as the source of 
nutrition in flour? 

A good method of making unfermented bread is to 
take of flour 4 pounds. Sesquicarbonate of soda, (su- 
percarbonate of the shops,) 320 grains. Hydrochloric 
acid, (spirit of salt or muriatic acid of the shops,) 6£ 
fluid drachms. Common salt 300 grains. Water, 35 
ounces by measure. The soda is first mixed with the 
flour very intimately. The salt is dissolved in the 
water, and added to the acid. The whole being then 
rapidly mixed as in common baking. The bread may 
either be baked in tins or formed like cottage loaves, 
and should be kept from one to two hours in the oven. 
Should the bread prove yellow, it is a proof that the 
soda has been in excess, and indicates the propriety of 
adding a small additional portion of acid ; the acid 
varying somewhat in strength. The same process may 
be employed in raising the other mixture previously 
recommended. 



APPENDIX 



166 



APPENDIX. 



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170 



APPENDIX. 



Table IV. 
Ratios of Food, Milk, and Butter. 



BROWN COW. 




Milk 
every 
five 
Days. 


Barley. 


Grass. 


Hay. 


Dry 

Hay. 


Butter 

every 

five Days 


Grain 

to 
M.Ik. 


Butter 

to 
Grain. 


Barley crushed : 
1st five days 

2d do. - 
3d do. - 
4th do. - 

Malt : 
1st five days 

2d do. - 
3d do. - 

Barley & molasses: 

1st five days 
2d do. - 

Barley & linseed : 

1st five days 
2d do. - 

Bean meal : 
1st five days 


lbs. 
115-6fc 


lbs. 

42 
3 malt 


lbs. 
240 


lbs. 
65 


lbs. 
134 


lbs. 
3-625 


100 to 

255 
245 
159 


100 to 
1428 


105 
1105 
9576 


45 
45 
60 


26 


153 

139^ 

13-Ji 


136 

mi 

in 


3-33 

3-935 

3-26 


311-2G 


150 


- 


425 


364-3 


10-525 


214 


97 

96 
98-19 


42 

3 barley 
54 
60 


- 


135J 

129$ 
119 


114 

108-5 
999 


344 

3-60 
3-25 


215 

177 
163 


1514 


291-19 156 


384 322-46 


10-29 


186 


105-18 
98-5 


Barley. 
45 
45 


Molasses. 
12 
15 


133 
137 


111-75 
11500 


3-63 
3-63 


184 
164 


1611 


203-68 


90 


27 


270 


226-75 


7-26 ! 174 


101-18 
104-00 


45 
35 


Linseed. 
15 
25 


129 
136 


108-36 
11425 


3-689 
3228 


167 
173 


1736 


20518 80 


40 i 265 


222-61 


6-917 


170 


99-72 


Beans. 
56 ! 4 j 148 


124-32 


3-69 


166 


1626 



Note. — This and the opposite Table are read as follows: — During 
the second five days of experiment the Cow afforded 105 lbs. of milk 
and 3-33 lbs. butter, and consumed during that period 45 lbs. barley, 
26 lbs. grass, 153 lbs. hay. The ratio of the barley to the milk is as 
100 to 255, while the relation of the butter to the barley during fifteen 
days is as 100 to 1428, or 100 lbs. of grain would produce 225 lbs. of 
milk, and 1428 lbs. of grain would produce 100 lbs. of butter. 



APPENDIX. 

Table IV. 
Ratios of Food, Milk, and Butter. 



171 



WHITE COW. 




Milk 
every 
five 
Days. 


Barley. 


Grass. 


Hay. 


Dry 

Hay. 


Butter 
every 
five 
Days. 


Grain 

to 
Milk. 


Butter 

to 
Grain. 


Barley crushed : 
1st five days 

2d do. - 
3d do. - 
4th do. 

Malt: 
1st five days 

2d do. ■ 
3d do. - 

Barley &. molasses: 

1st five days 
2d do. 

Barley &. linseed : 

1st five days 
2d do. - 

Bean meal - 


lbs. 
109-G8 


lbs. 
42 


lbs. 
240 


lbs. 
65 


lbs. 
134 


lbs. 
3-19 


100 to 

272 

242 
246 
191 


100 to 
1538 


109-33 
11068 
107 


45 
45 
56 


26 


153 
172-5 
J 31-75 


128-5 
144-9 
110-67 


3-333 
3-376 
2-843 


32701 


146 


26 


457-25 


384-07 8-552 


224 


1065 

1075 
111-5 


Malt. 
42 
3 barley 
54 
60 


- 


150 

147 
147-5 


126 

123-48 
123-9 


3126 

3072 
2-937 


240 

198 
185 


1715 


335-5 


156 3 barley 


444-5 373-38 


9-135 


209 


112 
112-5 


Barley. 
45 
45 


Molasses. 
12 
15 


131-75 
142 25 


110-67 
11949 


3-26 
3-26 


196 
189 


1800 


234-5 


90 27 


27400 


23016 6-52 192 


113 

117-68 


45 
35 


Linseed. 
15 
25 


117-5 
131-75 


98-7 
110-67 


3406 
3421 


188 
196 


1760 


230-68 


80 


40 249-25 209-37 


6-827 


192 


115-628 


56 


4 146 

1 


122-64 3-76 


193 


1590 



Table V. 
Amount of Wax and Oil in different Kinds of Food, 
and in Dung. 



Rye-grass - 


Wax per cent. 


Barley - 


Oil per cent 


201 


2-18 


Rye-grass hay - 


200 


Malt - -.. - 


1-37 


Moist grass dung - 


0-312 


Bean meal - 


2035 


Moist hav dung 


0-600 


Linseed meal - 


400 


Dry grass dung 


2-67 






Dry hay dung - 


3-82 


w 





172 



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